Miracles - An Epilogue
by Borzoi
Summary: It has been a few weeks since Klaus has sacrificed himself for his daughter, and still Caroline can't bring herself to accept that he is well and truly gone. Will she find a way to give him a second chance at life - and both of them a chance at happiness? - Just a little epilogue to TVD/TO -


Hey dearies, I know it's been a (long, long) while and most of you won't even remember me, but since we've now come to the end of the TVD/TO journey, I decided that respects must be paid. ;)

Like some others out there, I wasn't too impressed with the way TO and Klaus' story were brought to a close, and I heartily disagree with JP as regards the "inevitable" outcome of their lives. At first, I considered rewriting the whole thing, but since I never followed TO in depth and stopped watching TVD after the end of season 4, I don't trust myself to be able to take all that's canon into account (more so as I dislike most of what became canon over the years). Also, unfortunately, I lack the time for a novel-length fic since I'm currently working on getting my own original novel published. :) So, after some consideration, I settled for an epilogue that ends things the way I would have liked to see them end - basically my personal KC HEA that I thought I might share with you.

All that said, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who followed my voyage here on FF from Dungeons and Sanctuaries to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Game to War, Paradise Lost, and The Parisian Deal. It's because of your support and your lovely feedback on my stories that I dared to venture into original writing and finish my first novel (plus two sequels). It'll still take some time to publish as it isn't decided whether I'm going traditional or straight to Amazon, but if anyone is interested, I'll keep my Twitter feed (-at-borzoi) updated with any news.

Either way, thank you guys. All of you. _So very much_. You were the ones who made it all possible, and I will always, always be grateful to you. I hope with all my heart that at least a few of you out there might enjoy this little epilogue. Please don't be too harsh on me if some details deviate from canon or may not be one hundred percent in line with the TVD/TO rules of the supernatural; this is not a full-blown story but really just a little postmortem to give myself the closure TVD/TO lacked for me.

As always, I don't own any of the characters, and the story is rated M for a reason. ;)

All the best to all of you, and who knows, perhaps someday I will go ahead and dust off the AU story about Klaus as the Devil that's languishing in my drawer. ;)

For now, I'm sending you all lots of XOXO!

 **In the words of Elijah Mikaelson - it's been a glorious ride!  
**

Love,

Sybille

* * *

 **MIRACLES - AN EPILOGUE  
**

 _Every moment of light and dark is a miracle._

Walt Whitman

After three weeks of waiting for the impossible to happen, Caroline Forbes-Salvatore decided that she must be the artisan of her own miracle.

Rain poured down in sharp little needles that clattered against the windows. She had always liked this particular sound, yet this time, the quiet drumming lacked the comfort she would have drawn from it on a regular day. Her sadness wouldn't be appeased by so mundane a remedy. So she was determined to set out and find a more potent cure. An hour ago, she had bid a temporary goodbye to Alaric and the girls and returned to her house to throw a few things in the bag she was now shouldering. She had no idea how long she would be gone and where her journey might take her, but she would make do with what she had and with no other company than her own. Her disillusionment with the lack of support from those who called themselves her friends still stung and suffused the air with a bitter taste; for once in her vampire life, however, she had made the daring decision to put herself before their fears and doubts and protests. Her as yet half-baked plan would take her to Salem and all other locations with a strong witch population. New Orleans, the natural choice for any seeker of magical assistance, she had dismissed without a second thought. A plethora of witches and warlocks lived in the city, and all of Louisiana for that matter, but she doubted that a community in the throes of a gradual recovery from recent events was willing to help her recover the very man who had stood at the center of it all. Notwithstanding her certainty that every witch in the civilized world was in the loop on Klaus, Hope, the Hollow, and the drama that always surrounded the name of Mikaelson, Caroline banked on the dubious prospect that somewhere out there, the magic she needed was waiting. And she was prepared to travel to the ends of the Earth to find it, even if that meant being separated from her daughters for a while. More than two decades as a vampire had taught her to recognize those rare and fleeting intervals when the world of the supernatural took a breath and allowed its creatures to just live their lives. She wouldn't even have considered leaving if her instincts didn't steadily confirm that they were indeed enjoying a period of calm between storms.

Still... if only Bonnie had said yes.

Their conversation earlier that day had been unpleasant to say the least. Her friend had categorically refused to so much as entertain the idea of resurrecting Klaus, and at first, Caroline had found it difficult to rein in her flaring temper and profound disappointment. When she had calmed down enough for stone-cold reason to return, it had dawned on her that a partial success had hidden on the underside of their argument: Bonnie had indirectly admitted that there _was_ a way to bring him back. Caroline harbored no doubt in her mind that she was about to embark on an endless string of Missions Impossible, involving a dozen ingredients from the far end of space, lost grimoires, and other funny little things she couldn't even imagine at this point. The first and greatest challenge, that much she knew, lay in finding a witch willing _and_ powerful enough to compose and execute what she assumed would be a spell of major complexity.

The sound of steps on the front lawn made her head jerk up. By all that was holy, not another well-meaning intervention by worried friends. She grabbed her bag tighter and considered sneaking out through the window, but after a second of serious consideration, she shook her head. Wasn't she supposed to be a figure of authority? Straightening her spine, she took her purse and keys and made her way to the door where she suppressed a moue of displeasure upon catching sight of her visitor. Bingo. The friend police was on patrol all right.

"Bonnie," she muttered as she stepped outside. "Whatever it is, can we talk about it when I'm back? I'm in a bit of a hurry, and..."

"Leave your stuff and come with me," the witch replied curtly.

Caroline's eyes narrowed. "Listen, Bonnie, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you can tell Ric, Elena, and Damon that you're wasting your time. I get that you don't want any part in this, but I kind of hoped you'd all be a little more accepting of my choices. You know, the way I always accepted all of yours? Ring a bell?"

"The others don't know that I'm here. Trust me, you'll want to see this. Come on, let's go." When Caroline didn't move, Bonnie gave an impatient huff. "I'm not trying to set you up. You've known me long enough to tell the difference, don't you think?"

The crossing of swords between skepticism, trust, the need to put their earlier fight to rest, and the urge to start her search lasted for all of five seconds. Without a word, she returned inside, dumped her bag, and joined Bonnie who was already marching towards her car.

A short, silent drive took them to the narrow gravel road that wound its way deep into the woods. Bonnie parked the car where the track ended, seized her umbrella, and without further ado strode straight to where trees and undergrowth formed a natural boulevard. Caroline followed, her eyes and ears incessantly scanning their surroundings for signs of friend or foe, but other than birds, forest animals, and the sound of the light breeze in the foliage, she detected nothing. Descending dusk bathed the forest in a bluish, shimmering twilight that struck her as odd on a rainy day. She dismissed it after a moment.

They walked at a brisk pace until, without a warning, Bonnie halted at a massive tree. Broad of trunk and tall of stature, it looked a thousand years old, if not more. The thought would have made Caroline smile if it hadn't been for the sudden buzz in the air that didn't belong in this forest. Or perhaps it did. Whilst there was nothing vague about the arcane aura, she couldn't have pinpointed what it was or where it came from. It felt as real as the wind on her skin and as familiar as a strong hand in hers.

"What's going on, Bonnie?" she whispered into the expanding darkness. "What is it I'm sensing?"

There was a split second of what looked like inner debate before Bonnie said. "Do you know where we are?"

"Ahm... Mystic Falls, the cradle of weirdness?"

The witch's lips twitched. "Good one. No, I meant this place, right here. Do you know what used to be on these grounds?"

A cold shiver slithered down Caroline's spine as she shook her head. "I have a feeling that you're about to tell me."

"This was where the original village of Mystic Falls was built over a millennium ago. This is the exact birthplace of the Original siblings. All of them."

"I don't understand. The old village has been history for centuries. There's nothing left of it. Why would you bring me here?"

"Go closer."

"Bonnie, I swear, if this is some sort of..."

The witch gave her a little shove and gestured at the behemoth of a tree. "Just go and have a look."

Caroline threw her hands in the air. "Fine." Ten long steps brought her to the tree where she turned to glare at her friend. "Okay, I'm here. Is the joke over now? Can I go? I really..."

The words died on her lips when her eyes fell on the leaf-covered ground at her feet. Something was glowing. Subtle and ethereal as the sheen was, any casual passerby would have missed it if he hadn't been looking to find it. But it was there. Unmistakably. Myriads of tiny blue particles not unlike the bioluminescent plankton of some faraway beach she had once seen in a documentary glimmered underneath and between the leaves in an illusion of a tiny, sapphire-filled pond of timeless beauty. Her first impulse was to lie down and bathe in the breathtaking light until it covered her from head to toe, but reality caught up fast.

"Bonnie?" she asked in a hushed tone, her eyes fixed on the shimmer. "What is this?"

The briefest of hesitations ensued before the witch said, "Klaus."

Caroline's blood flow came to a complete standstill. "What do you mean, _Klaus_? Klaus is dead. You yourself gave me this whole lecture about how the disappearance of the Hollow is the ultimate proof that he's well and truly gone. You said he was the only being strong enough to keep the Hollow within his body once it stopped functioning, that this was the one surefire way to get rid of the damned thing, and that it was why he, and no one else, had to make that sacrifice. If everything you told me is true, how can this be him?"

The witch sighed, and a tinge of resignation sneaked into her tone. "You see, when a supernatural creature dies, his or her physical element remains anchored to the place of their passing. The actual body can be moved, the soul passes on, but the essence of their corporeal presence on Earth will always be linked to the location where their life came to an end. It's one of those laws of nature that make our lives complicated. Anyway, Klaus died in New Orleans; his essence should forever be bound to that place, and here is where it gets interesting." Caroline sensed reluctance in her next words. "In extremely rare cases, the spirits relocate someone's essence."

"Why would they do that?" Caroline demanded amid an epic fight to keep her mounting excitement at bay. "Because the person died at the wrong place?"

Bonnie's jaw set. "No. Because he died at the wrong moment." Before Caroline's mind could form a coherent thought, her friend carried on. "Many people die at the wrong moment, let's be clear about that, but the spirits only interfere when a number of additional circumstances are at play. First of all, there has to be a bond between the deceased and one or more individuals on this plane, our plane, that is too strong for even death to break. Second, he must have chosen death of his own free will. Third, he must have died at a time when his greatest and all-consuming desire was to live. If all this coincides, the spirits transport the person's essence to the one location where his bond with life is at its strongest. It's a message for the living, and a powerful one." She gazed down at the bluish glow. "Looks like we have a winner."

There was no way to tame the roar of thoughts and emotions that cartwheeled through Caroline's system. "But all that would have applied to Stefan, too, wouldn't it?"

The witch pursed her lips and placed a hand on Caroline's arm. "It's not an exact science. The will to live must be monumental, Care. The deceased in question must spend his every second on the other plane filled with a zest for life that drowns out everything else. You know I loved Stefan. He was the best of friends and the greatest of guys, but we mustn't forget that, as much as he loved you, he never fully accepted his life as a vampire. I think we both know that deep down, he not only saw his death as a necessary sacrifice but as an escape from a life he never chose."

Silence stretched between them as they regarded the cobalt blue particles and followed their own thoughts for a while. Caroline had long made her peace with Stefan's decision; she had told him she would love him forever, and she would, yet over the years, great passion had morphed into the steady love of friendship and shared, wonderful memories. Part of her wanted to contest what Bonnie had said, but the greater part of her knew that her friend had a point. Stefan had found the peace he had craved with all his soul, and that was what she wanted for him. Her heart no longer ached or beat faster when she thought of him. She had mourned and cursed the circumstances that had torn him from her side, but underneath it all, she had always accepted his choice. What she knew she should ask herself instead was the meaning behind the simple truth that she couldn't accept the very same choice when it came to Klaus. Why her heart broke into a sprint every time her thoughts lingered on their final kiss, this bittersweet, tender caress of lips that had been so beautiful she couldn't understand to this day how she had summoned the fortitude to calmly get up and leave. She had tasted the love of life Bonnie had spoken of. He hadn't wanted to die. She knew there was nothing she could have said or done to change his mind, though, and that was why she had walked away. He had needed the strength their moment together and the quiet dignity of their farewell had given him.

The other reason for her departure had been grounded in her firm belief that Klaus bloody Mikaelson would cheat death as he had done uncounted times before. Not for one second had she entertained the idea of an actual, irrevocable goodbye - and it had taken her these past three weeks to convince herself otherwise. To stop waiting for his knock on her door. And as soon as she had fully acknowledged reality, she had decided to change it.

Her hands trembled when she pointed at the glowing little sapphires. "If it is as you say, Bonnie, then why don't the spirits send him back here right away? Why hide his essence where one would only stumble over it by accident? By the way, how _did_ you find it?"

"Witches feel this kind of energy way more strongly than another supernatural creature would. It's such a rare occurrence with so potent an aura that we know it as soon as we breach a certain perimeter. It is... a call to action for us. I was here in the woods today to work on a spell I needed a bit of privacy for, and that's when I sensed it. As to why the spirits don't return him to life - well, there's magic involved that has to originate in our plane. The bond between the deceased and the living has to be unbreakable from _both_ sides, and both sides must want his return."

"So it can be done?" When Bonnie gave a halting nod, Caroline asked, "Just this morning, you told me you'll see Hell freeze over before you'd move a finger for Klaus. Why did you bring me to him, Bonnie? Why did you show me this?"

This time, the silence that followed her question was thick and tense and seemed to last for three eternities. Finally, Bonnie cleared her throat. "You were going to leave your home and your daughters to find someone capable of bringing him back. Why?"

Caroline felt a slight flush redden her cheeks. "Hope has lost both parents. She's so strong, too strong almost, but she needs Klaus. This girl has gone through so much and is filled to the tips of her toes with powers and abilities we haven't even begun to understand yet, and I don't think anyone in this world can handle infinite power as well as he does. He'll help her channel it, and..."

"Care," Bonnie interrupted. "I get all that, and believe it or not, I understand where you're coming from. But I want the real reason. Your personal, private reason, the one you're too ashamed to talk about."

She peeked down into the glistening cobalt. Old Caroline wanted to fabricate a well-sounding, vacuous story, yet she wasn't that girl anymore. At least she hoped not. "I'm not ashamed. I was for years, maybe even until the day he died, but I'm realizing just now that I no longer am. Yes, I've slept with Klaus, and yes, it was from out of this world, but that's not the reason I want him back, if that's what you're getting at." When Bonnie rolled her eyes, Caroline flashed a fleeting grin. "I'm not saying it isn't a small part of the reason. You want the truth, Bonnie? I want him back for Hope, I do, but I also want him back for his own sake. He was a fingerbreadth away from finding the life he spent a thousand years searching. He had a family, a daughter who loved him, a world of wisdom to teach her. He was about to find redemption, and..."

"He died. That should be redemption enough, don't you think?"

"Not at all," Caroline retorted. "Death isn't redemption. Redemption is in the life you lead after you turn your back on the dark places you once came from. He wasn't given the chance, and he deserves one. Look at Damon. He's one of your best friends these days and has been for almost two decades. Do I have to spell out all the dark places he has been?"

She found it almost funny to watch Bonnie struggling to form a sentence that started with _'Damon's different because...'_. After a moment, the witch sighed. "Point taken. What you're saying is you want him back so he can take the high road this time? Come on, Care. I know you better than that."

Caroline blew out a long, slow breath. "I do. As I said, for Hope and for him. But..."

"But?"

"In the weeks leading up to his death, we were... we had started walking down a certain path. I want to follow that path and see where it leads."

Bonnie blew out a puff of air. "Can you say it the way Caroline Forbes would normally say it?"

It was Caroline's turn to clear her throat, for even if she had slowly begun to accept her own feelings, clothing them into actual words remained a different beast. "You want to make this hard for me, don't you?" When Bonnie just lifted a corner of her mouth, she muttered, "If that's what it takes, fine. I want to find out if he can be what he promised me many years ago he would be."

"And what's that?"

"My last love."

It felt strangely good to say it out loud. She had never repeated Klaus' words to anyone. They were hers, locked up inside her heart to be revisited when she felt down and out, when life threatened to overwhelm her, when she was alone and lonely and scared. But now that she had given them a voice, she saw the truth as clearly as the blue shimmer at her feet: It was more than a nebulous possibility. He hadn't been her first love, or her second, nor had she been the only woman in his life, yet she understood what he had meant back then: The last love was the one for the ages. Perhaps there was a reason why she hadn't fallen for anyone since Stefan, and she owed it to herself to find out once and for all if said reason went by the name of Mikaelson.

When she looked at Bonnie again, she found the witch standing stock-still, almost petrified. Her voice sounded croaky when she said, "Are you telling me you love him?"

"All I'm saying right now is that I, too, need a second chance. Everything else will sort itself out." Her breath caught in her lungs when she asked, "Will you help me, Bonnie?"

"I shouldn't. I don't want to." Caroline felt her face fall, but before she could throw herself into contingency planning, or worse, pleading, her friend pinched the bridge of her nose. "If I'm to even consider this, I want you to promise me something."

"Let's have it."

"I want your word that you'll help me put him down if he sets one toe out of line. One. Toe."

Through the dizziness in her head, Caroline furrowed her brows. "He would still be the Original Hybrid, Bonnie. He'll fight tooth and nail for his family and daughter, you know that."

"I'm not talking about him defending his loved ones. That's not what I mean. If he uses his powers for anything other than just causes, I'll consider that a breach of agreement. If he kills humans for sport - breach of agreement. If he terrorizes the supernatural community for the sake of terror or because he's being his usual megalomaniac self - breach of agreement."

"And then what happens?"

The witch nodded at the swarm of particles. "If I agree to bring him back, I'll bind his essence to the tomb. Consider it a spell with a remote detonator: If he does anything to displease me, I'll push the magic button, and he'll be in the tomb faster than you can say Katherine Pierce. To put things into the right perspective here - I'll spell the tomb in such a way that no one that doesn't happen to be me can ever, _ever_ , reverse that magic. He'll be trapped in there for the rest of eternity, because no matter what you say or do, there won't be a third chance. If you try to..."

"Done."

Bonnie blinked. "What?"

"I said done. I agree. I'll help you put him down if he kills anyone who isn't a threat to his family." Caroline held out a hand. "Deal?"

The friends stared at each other while the sounds of the forest seemed to dim in a moment of held breath. Then Bonnie took her hand and shook it once. "The spirits sent me a clear message, and so did you, but don't ever make me regret this, Care."

For a second, the comprehension that her friend appeared to doubt her word hurt her a little, yet she must be fair: The witch had reason enough to exert all the caution in the world when it came to Klaus. After all, the man Caroline had come to know wasn't the man Bonnie Bennett remembered. "Tell you what," she said into the silence. "Bind us both to the tomb."

"Excuse me?"

Caroline let her eyes wander down to where the particles continued to float in their cloudlike, almost hypnotic dance. "Look, Bonnie, Klaus' redemption is in my own best interest. I couldn't have been with the man who stopped at nothing to trigger his werewolf side or compelled Jeremy to get himself killed just to prove a point. But here's the thing: He's also a man who willingly faced his own end to protect his own, and I want to find out if this is the man I can and want to be with. I don't have a crystal ball, I can't predict the future, so I'm in no position to give you any guarantees where he is concerned. But one thing I do know as well as I know myself: He will try his hardest to be that man, for his daughter and... and maybe even for me. I'm so sure of it that I'm willing to pay the price if I'm wrong. If he fails, we'll both have failed." When Bonnie didn't speak, she added, "See it this way: He might risk getting himself trapped in the tomb, but he'll think twice about doing that to me. It's additional insurance."

"Let me ask you this," Bonnie said after a moment of consideration. "Would you take such a risk for someone you don't love? For someone who's a 'maybe' to you?"

A knot formed in Caroline's stomach. "Ask me again when he's back, okay? I can't give you an answer right now, but I promise I will."

"All right. I'll do it," the witch muttered, slowly and as if speaking the words against her own will. "That is, if we can get our hands on the ingredients I require for this spell. It could take us a while."

Keeping her euphoria at bay turned into almost as much of a battle as controlling her tears had been these past three weeks. Caroline swallowed twice and nodded. "What do you need?"

"Original blood, first of all. Not much, just a few drops."

"I'm sure Rebekah will be more than willing to help out."

Bonnie grimaced. "What about the doppelganger blood I'll also need? Elena isn't exactly going to be thrilled."

"Probably not," Caroline admitted. "I'll talk to her. What else?"

"Werewolf blood, Esther's grimoire that contains the spell in question, and..."

"And?"

"Something I think will be impossible to find." A flicker appeared in Bonnie's eyes. "The heart of a vampire from his broken sire line has to stop beating. I have to connect it with Klaus to kickstart his own heart. It needs to be someone from his line; Davina cut the ties between him and you all, I know, but he's still your ultimate sire. That archaic kind of linkage can never be completely undone - your very existence is rooted in him. Be that as it may, I can't for the life of me imagine we'll find someone stupid enough to give his life for Klaus goddamned Mikaelson."

Caroline's hopes sank further with her friend's every word. "So that vampire has to die for good?"

"Not if we can enlist a second witch to bring them back as soon as Klaus' heart has started beating again," Bonnie replied. "Do you think Hope or Freya will help with that?"

"Both of them would."

"No, just one. The energy of one other witch is enough of a distraction in spells of this magnitude, let alone two. Care, no living dead being on the face of the Earth is going to volunteer for this madness. Damon might have been crazy enough, but he's no longer a vampire. There's really no one else I can think of." When Bonnie's eyes zeroed in on her face, she shook her head with a vehemence that made her glossy dark strands fly. "No. No, no, no, no! Absolutely not!"

The harsh protest pulled a warm, gentle smile from Caroline. "You said it yourself - no one else will ever do this. Bon, Hope is powerful enough to bring me back, and if anything goes wrong, you'll be there to help her. Let's not forget that this wouldn't be the first time my heart stops beating."

Bonnie grabbed her shoulders and shook her harshly enough for her to actually notice. "You have two daughters who need their mother. You have a school to run. How can you even entertain such a stupid, idiotic, dumb, moronic thought?"

"Because I trust you. I trust you to do this spell, bring Klaus back, and return me to life if Hope can't. Which I doubt. You should see this girl in action." Her voice mellowed at the panic in her friend's eyes. "Please. You're the only one I trust to do this right. I need you, Bonnie!"

Perhaps it was something in the way she had uttered those last few words, but with every passing moment, her friend's expression lost some of its rigid disapproval. Caroline could almost feel the exact instant when Bonnie made her decision, and her heart soared to the skies and, at the same time, huddled up in that dark little corner where fear was at home. They would bring Klaus back, and the price was her heart. _How fitting_ , she thought while she pulled Bonnie into a bear hug.

"Ouch," said the witch, and they both broke into a liberating giggle.

"Sorry. I'm a bit overwhelmed."

Bonnie sobered as she took a step back. "I want to make one thing clear, Care. I'm not doing this for Hope, and I'm certainly not doing it for him. I'm doing it because the spirits seem to think it's a good idea for some reason. And even though you're batshit crazy, you're my best friend and I want to see you happy for more than hours at a time. If the only means to achieve that is _him_... well, so be it."

"Have I told you lately that I love you, Bonnie Bennett?"

The witch grinned. "I have one more condition, by the way."

"Uh-oh." Caroline arched a brow. "I should have known."

"Before anything else, I want to hear every dirty detail you never told me about your out-of-this-world afternoon in the woods with that Original scum."

* * *

He had returned to Mystic Falls as part of him had expected, but this was not the Mystic Falls of recent years. For a moment, he stood in wry appreciation of the accuracy of his distant memories of the primitive huts of his childhood and youth. He had preserved his images of his first home correctly to a fault, he realized as he gazed at the hamlet. Every house, every tree and flower awaited him just where and how he remembered it - with one significant deviation. This afterlife version of Mystic Falls lay deserted as if no speck of life had ever touched its ancient grounds. A leaden desolation cloaked the village like a musty, moth-eaten blanket; the discovery that it made him uncomfortable in his skin came as an unpleasant surprise. Was the afterlife not supposed to be serenity, peace, inner harmony, and all that other drivel the supernatural community had believed with singular stoicism for thousands of years? He felt nothing of the sort, and the fact that he still felt at all worried him. Perhaps Elijah had been wrong. Perhaps he had not redeemed himself like his brother had declared with such utter conviction, and this was to be his punishment - an eternity of loneliness accompanied by the thick silence of depression. A longing moment saw him glance up to the milky grey skies. The afterlife was as little of a special request program as life had been prior to his death, yet during those final hours of his sojourn on Earth, he had quietly hoped for a place that might allow him to catch a glimpse of his daughter every now and then. There was nothing he would not have given to be a part of her life, watch her grow into a woman, see her make mistakes and live and learn. There was no price he would not have paid to find a life of his own, settle down after a thousand years of nomadism and be the man Elijah had never stopped seeing in him. Court Caroline the way she deserved to be courted.

Caroline.

Klaus let the sudden warmth inside him fan out as he conjured the images of their last moments together. Gods, she had been so beautiful. The light that had first drawn him to a teenage vampire who had hated him with a passion - _most of the time_ , he thought with a smile - had brightened in such a way that he had struggled to even look at her. Before him had sat the woman he had always known she was bound to become, and although it was not his place to be, he could not help his quiet, profound pride of her. He had never deserved her, but right there, right then, she had led him to realize that the day might dawn when he would... after chasing her around for another couple of centuries. His smile widened. _Gladly, love._ The knowledge that she had considered letting him catch her eventually filled him with golden wonder, and for a long, painful second, his longing for the life he could have had at her side made him feel physically sick.

He shook his head to chase off the colorful, lively thoughts and started to walk. He needed to find Elijah. They had died in each other's arms, thus logic dictated that his brother could not be all that far. The thought of Elijah's sacrifice still tightened his nonexisting throat, and albeit he would forever nourish the hope to be reunited with his older sibling no matter how long and impossible his search, a portion of his heart wished fervently that Elijah had already found the peace he so richly deserved and was living the good afterlife with Hayley. Altruism had never counted among Klaus' more prominent traits yet would it bring him a certain comfort to know that at least one of them lived in happiness.

When he refocused on his surroundings, he found himself at the doorstep of the very hut he had once shared with his family. A million reminiscences rose inside his head, many of them pleasant and even more of them not so. The naive, purehearted youth of his human days had died within these walls even before Mikael's blade had torn him in two. He saw so much of that lad in his daughter that it had worried him at times; Hope's strength gave him the confidence that she would choose a brighter path, but he wished he could be there to steady her when she stumbled as any child of Klaus Mikaelson was destined by heritage to do every now and again.

With a wistful sigh, he pushed the door open.

"Now look who has bitten the bullet," a snide voice greeted him as soon as he crossed the threshold. "Dead at last, _boy_?"

Of the manifold emotions that rushed through him, surprise was notably absent. Somewhere in the depths of his being, he had known whom to expect in his afterlife even if he had permitted himself a sliver of hope for a different fate. "So much for peace," he muttered under his breath. "Well, _Father_ , I certainly appreciate the irony - for a thousand years, I ran from your obsessive thirst to end me, and here we are. United in death, so to speak. I daresay it is a bit melodramatic. But I am curious to see how you plan to threaten me from now on since, to my knowledge, there is no superlative for 'dead'. Would you deem it a fair statement that your arsenal of intimidation has thinned to the point of ineffectiveness?"

Mikael smiled. "I believe we both know better. Tell me, Niklaus, can you name one soul living or dead that you would less likely choose as your companion for the remainder of eternity than..." His smile broadened into the smirk that had been at the center of a young lad's nightmares from the day of his birth. "... yours truly?"

Klaus' easy grin came with the routine of a thousand years of veiling his true emotions. "Family above all. Is that not why you turned us into something you subsequently spent a millennium attempting to purge with fire and blood? The sons and daughter of your own flesh... oh, and let us not forget the spawn your wife sired with another man and whom you were forced to raise as your own."

Mikael's three slow claps sounded strangely muted. "Bravo. A shame that you died before you achieved the greatness I foretold you would reach upon learning to control your impulse. And an even greater shame that this new command of yourself cannot be put to good use where it is needed."

"What are you talking about?" Klaus frowned. He did not appreciate the soupçon of deep satisfaction on his stepfather's face - and a moment later, his lingering unease flared into a brushfire of fear.

"One thing can be said for you, _boy_. You have protected your siblings with all your might for as long as you lived. Your methods may have been questionable, but that is beside the point. The point is that you are gone. Elijah is gone. Rebekah, Kol, and Freya are on their own - as is that abomination you call your daughter."

He registered the slight tremor in his own voice when he said, "I forbid you to speak of her. Not only is she stronger than all of us combined, she will also never be threatened by the likes of someone who has failed in his mission again and again over the span of ten centuries. You have need of a target for your eternal hatred? Very well. I am right here, _Father_. Feel free to have as many gos at me as you wish."

And there it was, the low, subdued chuckle that had rung in his ears for so many centuries. Mikael shook his head as he sauntered across the room and placed a hand on his stepson's shoulder in a gesture Klaus knew he should not be able to physically feel but felt nonetheless. "A thousand years old and still you have not understood the workings of the supernatural. It does not take the Holy Grail, _boy_. A capable witch on the upper plane, your mother on this side, a little time, a concerted effort, and _voilà -_ Daddy's home." The gleam in his eyes gave him a veneer of contentment that was all the more eerie because it was genuine. "I cannot even begin to tell you how I am looking forward to this one final hunt that will reunite our family for good and free the Earth of the curse we brought upon it in a moment of madness. All the while you, Niklaus, will remain stranded down here in full knowledge that I am up there ending your daughter and everyone you love. And rest assured that I have unlearnt the meaning of 'fast' and 'painless'."

Klaus found no time to overcome his stupefaction. Mikael, the hut and everything in it blurred and dissolved before his eyes until all that remained was a dim mirage of something... nothing... life... death... fear.

"Niklaus! She cannot escape her fate, Niklaus! You..."

For the duration of what on the upper plane would have been three heartbeats, he stood rooted to the spot and let the boiling panic consume him. Hope. His little girl, the daughter he had never imagined he would come to love as he did, for whom he had died and would die again a hundred times over. Everything he had done to keep her safe was for naught if Mikael succeeded in returning to the upper plane. The uproar in his mind clouded his judgment and paralyzed his rationality to an extent that made it impossible to determine whether his stepfather had been bluffing, but when the smoke cleared, it did not matter. Not truly. Hope, Rebekah, Kol, Freya, even Caroline and her daughters were and would always be in peril because of who they were and what they were to him, even now that he was gone. He had to find his way back to them. He must. If he failed to protect them... No. He wouldn't.

He stormed into the haze that surrounded him and stopped dead in his tracks. His birthplace, the old village, was gone. What surrounded him now was none other than present-day Mystic Falls, or rather, the woods outside the town. Klaus shook his head twice and rubbed his eyes, but this was no hallucination - the huts had vanished, and somewhere in the distance, he discerned what struck him as the ruins of the old Lockwood property. After a split second of deliberation, he gave a shrug. He did not know what the change meant, or why it had come to pass. What he did know was that he needed to devise a means to return to life, a damn-near-impossible endeavor requiring a clear head and a watertight plan, neither of which was attained by running around in circles like a headless imbecile. He inhaled twice and set off towards the ruins at human speed to give himself time to simmer down.

He had not covered much ground when the sound of a snapping twig brought him to a halt. A brief scan of his surroundings revealed little, and yet he felt something, a tingle in his gut that had not been there a minute ago and that reminded him of the almost-kiss he had shared with Caroline here in Mystic Falls not too long ago. Her heart had been hammering as fast as his in a moment of such utter intimacy that he...

 _Crack._

Another twig. The noise seemed to originate from a colossal tree a few yards ahead. The strange vibration in his stomach increased with every step he took and was joined by the sudden certainty that he was no longer alone. He walked on, rounded the tree - and crashed into a solid frame with a very familiar face.

* * *

"... and after the third time, I was sure someone must've heard me scream my head off. He was so... Hey, if you aren't listening, I can just as well tell it to the trees, Bonnie. Bonnie?" Alarmed, Caroline stared at her friend whose eyes had begun to glass over. "What's going on? Talk to me! Bonnie!"

* * *

"Klaus?"

"Well, well. Bonnie Bennett. What a rather splendid sense of timing," he said as soon as he had recovered from his brief instant of shock. "Do us both a favor and tell me you have not died."

The witch gave a single, sharp laugh. "Not today. How did you find us?"

"Us?" It did not take him long to put two and two together. "You are with Caroline? Where is she? Is she well? Is my daughter? How..."

Bonnie held up a hand, and to his own astonishment, he fell silent. Not that he would let this become a habit, he mused as he waited for her to speak. "You really are desperate to return to life, aren't you? You shouldn't have been able to find me on your own, or come so close to your physical essence without a witch's guidance." Her pupils widened a fraction. "It isn't even me you found. It's Caroline."

"Is she there?" he asked. "Can I speak with her?"

"Not directly. But you can tell me what you want to say to her - after I explain things to you." The witch stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets, and for a split second, Klaus sensed the old animosity that had never failed to amuse him. Yet this was not the moment for provocation, not when he needed her help. "Listen, first of all, let me say that I don't want to do any of this, but there are extraordinary circumstances at play, not to mention that friendship means more to me than my dislike of you. Caroline came to me this morning and asked for my help in bringing you back."

"She did what?" Klaus exclaimed, thunderstruck.

The acerbity in Bonnie's mien eased, if only some. "I turned her down. Wait until I'm done before you start screaming bloody murder. Shortly after Caroline left and I came out here to practice a spell, I felt an unusual surge of energy, so I went to investigate. What I found was..." In a few quick sentences, she told him about the relocation of his essence and the meaning behind it. "I went to get Caroline; she was already on her way out of town. She was about to leave her daughters for an unknown period of time to find another witch willing to help her. I brought her here. We had a long talk at which end I agreed to do what must be done to revive you, for her and because a sign of this weight must be respected."

Klaus stared at the witch, speechless for once, and searched for signs of false play or intentional torment. "Why would she go to such lengths to bring me back?" he asked quietly, not sure if he could trust his voice.

"For your daughter, for one. You'll have to discuss her other motivations with her. What's important right now is that we'll work on gathering the ingredients we need for the resurrection spell, but before we do, you should know that there's a condition attached to your return to life, one you won't like. If you don't accept it, my deal with Caroline is off."

"What is the condition?" Centuries of inherent suspicion kicked in at once, more so as the situation allowed for little wiggle room on his side of the negotiating table.

Bonnie lifted a corner of her mouth. "You'll agree now, blindly, or we're done for good."

It went against his very grain to enter into a bargain without full disclosure of its terms, in particular when said terms were dictated by a witch who had several axes to grind with him. He thought of one of Elijah's favorite sayings that had somehow managed to become household vernacular the world over: Beggars can't be choosers.

"I accept," he said. "Just so we are clear, witch - if this prerequisite of yours leads to any endangerment whatsoever of my family, or Caroline, for that matter, you will wish that you had never agreed to bring me back."

To his astonishment, she flashed a smile. "Some things never change, do they?"

"I guess not," Klaus muttered with a fleeting beam of his own. "What do you need me to do?"

"Wait, mostly. I can't tell you how long, but even if I could, it wouldn't mean much to you because time passes differently down here." She hesitated. "There's something else as well. One of the things required to complete the resuscitation spell is to stop a beating heart. It must belong to a vampire of your former sire line."

He nodded. "That should be easy enough. Rebekah possesses the gift of an exceptional memory. She can provide you with a list of names."

"No need. A volunteer came forward," Bonnie said cautiously.

"I must admit to a certain surprise. Who would...?" He interrupted himself when he gauged the expression in the witch's eyes. A splinter of ice pierced his soul. "No!" he shouted. "This is one hundred percent out of the question! Tell her that I shall kill her myself if she wastes one more thought on this ridiculous idea. Find someone else, Bonnie, and find them fast. I will not allow Caroline to die in my stead."

Bonnie's earlier smile returned, and with it came the first instant of genuine kindness she had ever bestowed upon him. "She'll come back, don't worry. Your daughter will make sure of it, and you know better than anyone how gifted Hope is."

Squeezing his eyes shut, Klaus prayed for countenance. He did not pull his daughter's capabilities into question; what converted his heart into a paralytic mass of horror were his thousand years' experience with all those morsels of magic that could unbalance any given spell at any given moment.

"Klaus, you asked the right question before - who would ever be crazy enough to do this for you? It could take us decades to find someone, if at all. Trust me, I don't like the idea either, but you know Caroline. Once she's made up her mind, there's no turning back, so just let it go and start thinking of a way to thank her."

"I can't allow her to do this," he said, if less heatedly. "I can't. Not her. Find another vampire, or another way."

The witch rolled her eyes. "If anything, it will at least be entertaining to watch how you guys plan on making a relationship work between those two thick skulls of yours."

The shock that flashed through him this time bore no trace of cold. It carried a sweetness he could all but taste on his tongue. "Did she say...?"

"Talk to her when you're back," Bonnie interjected. "One more thing, Klaus. Right before I pull you up, you'll be passing through the afterlife."

"Then what is this?" he asked with a broad gesture that encompassed their surroundings. "Where am I now?"

"On the threshold between our plane and the two netherworlds. Consider it a waiting room with two doors, one of which leads to the netherworld of peace. The other is the path to eternal torment. You can't pass on to either right now because your physical essence was relocated, which means that you're currently not anchored. Also, your bond with our plane is too strong for the reasons I explained before. You're dead, but you're still travelling. When I haul you up, I have to pull you through one of the two afterlives. You'll meet loved or hated ones. Whoever it turns out to be, don't let them hold you here. Let them go, or I won't be able to bring you back."

Klaus gave a nod. "I can strike Mikael from the list of possible candidates since we already met."

"Say again?"

"Mikael was waiting for me in my childhood home. He threatened my family, my daughter, and he insinuated that he was working with a witch on the upper plane to bring him back to life. It is one of the reasons why I need to return as fast as possible."

"That is not good." The witch ran a hand through her hair and let her eyes wander into the distance. "Not good at all. If he's made it to the threshold, it means that he's already found someone very powerful on this side who's helping him expand his radius of mobility. He can't make it up to us yet, but it's only a matter of time if his witch gathers what she needs." She bit her lip. "What is it with you Mikaelsons? Can't you just let the world be and stay dead?"

He stifled a grin. "I shall try not to take it personally."

"Please do take it personally."

They exchanged a long, probing glance until Bonnie sighed. "First things first. Let's get you back." She turned around, ready to transition back to the upper plane.

"Bonnie."

"What?"

Klaus pressed his lips into a thin line and inhaled through his nose. "Will you tell my daughter that I love her? And Caroline..." He smiled. "Tell her that my intent has not changed and never will, but she can prepare herself for the argument from hell if she goes through with this. However, since my capacity to refrain her from this idiocy is rather reduced down here, I need you to give me your word, witch, that you will abandon my resurrection if it endangers Caroline in any way." With a light inclination of his head, he added, "Always choose her life over mine, Bonnie. Always."

* * *

"Bonnie? What the hell is going on? You're scaring me! If you don't snap out of it right now, I'm going to..."

"Scream even louder? Jesus, my ears are already ringing," the witch retorted. "First Klaus, now you. Must be my lucky day."

Caroline's pulse screeched to a halt. "Klaus? You saw him? You spoke with him? Just now? He's here?"

"Like two parrots," Bonnie grumbled under her breath. "Much as I hate to say it, but in some respects, you're two peas in a pod."

When the witch had finished her executive summary of her conversation with the Original, Caroline's eyes fell on the blue glow that appeared to have gained brightness over the previous few minutes. "Okay, let's panic over Mikael once we're done panicking over all the things we need to get Klaus back."

"Which reminds me - it looks like you can expect your first marital drama the second he claps eyes on you. He really wasn't too happy about your involvement in the spell, Care."

"He can go fry an egg," she replied to Bonnie's grimace. The thought of fighting with Klaus came with its very own breed of excitement, but now was not the time to let hormones fog her concentration. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Care?"

"Yeah?"

"He also said his intent hasn't changed. And never will."

There went concentration and every last ounce of rationality. Caroline's heart pounded in her throat as she glanced around the trees and shrubs and, at last, down at the swaying particles.

"Who knows... maybe however-long-it-takes will be here sooner than we both thought."

* * *

The congregation gathered in the circular antechamber of the tomb reminded Caroline so much of old times that she automatically searched the group for Stefan. How often had they assembled like this to forge plans to save either the world or Elena, solve the ubiquitous supernatural riddles, or kill Klaus? Her life and its purposes had undergone such radical changes since then that the memories of her helter-skelter teenage days seemed to belong to another era, perhaps even another woman. And yet here they were, together again: Bonnie, Damon, Elena, and Alaric, forming a loose circle around two makeshift wooden pyres. Rebekah waited in the shadow of an overhanging rock wall, her hand on Hope's arm. The girl's eyes shone in the light of two dozen torches, yet it was more than the reflection of the fire that set her face aglow. It had taken Caroline two words, namely _Klaus_ and _return_ to send Hope into a frenzy of activities - after a veritable flood of joy-filled tears had dried out. Caroline's lengthy conversation with Hope had brought to light that the girl had submersed herself in research and clandestinely attempted a series of spells she had found in Esther's various grimoires since the very day her father had died; Bonnie had studied and commended her ventures, yet when push came to shove, Hope still lacked the experience and dexterity to execute all the components in the correct sequence. The spells she had used had moreover not been one hundred percent accurate since the girl had been ignorant of the relocation of her father's physical essence.

Two weeks had sprinted by since they had begun to lay the necessary groundwork for the spell. Convincing Elena had counted among the more trying feats; Caroline, Bonnie, and Hope had finally succeeded following days of concerted efforts that ended just short of a blood vow to keep Klaus in check. Damon had been unusually quiet, which had worried Caroline, but he seemed to trust Bonnie enough to understand that the witch would never wilfully put her friends at risk. He had mumbled something about Caroline's deteriorating taste in men, yet once Elena was on board, he had no longer objected. Caroline had always suspected that Damon had made his peace with Klaus long before everyone else, for in many respects, the two men were cast from the same mold.

Rebekah had needed no convincing at all; not only had the Original supplied a generous amount of her blood but, through means Caroline preferred not to investigate, that of a werewolf of Hayley's old pack.

Par for the course, Alaric had given her the hardest time. He had thrown a Damon-worthy fit upon learning not only of Caroline's plan but what she had volunteered to do. They hadn't spoken for a week during which time Ric had pulled out all the stops to talk Bonnie and Elena into withdrawing from the plan. Only when Damon had dragged him to the Grill for an _in memoriam_ night had he given up. Caroline never knew what Damon had said to his best friend, but the next morning, a very hung-over Ric had come to knock on her door and asked to sit down and talk things through like grown-ups. At the end of their long and painful discussion, they had agreed to disagree. The situation ate at her, but it was what it was for now. She hoped with all her heart that they would patch things up once the spell was behind them, for the sake of their girls - and a friendship of almost two decades. She had decided to take his presence here tonight as a positive sign for the future.

"Okay," Bonnie called, "I'm ready. Caroline, lie down on the stack to my left. Hope?"

While Caroline nodded at a stone-faced Alaric and took to climb onto the pyre, Klaus' daughter joined her fellow witch at a sturdy table they had brought down from one of the school's classrooms. Cups, carapaces, mortars, and a myriad of other paraphernalia were scattered between dozens of sooty candles. In the epicenter of it all, Esther's grimoire looked massive and ominous in its ancient splendor. Bonnie and Hope had traveled to New Orleans to sift through all of the Original Witch's known writings. Of course - _duh_ \- the correct spell was nowhere to be found. Rebekah and Marcel had subsequently joined the search of the Mikaelson mansion and its vast cellars; after three days of round-the-clock scavenger hunts, Hope had discovered a loose ashlar in the depths of a tunnel that had been sealed for almost a century - and quite obviously forgotten by everyone. Behind the stone, they had found a sturdy grimoire bound in hard, black leather that contained but five spells. Two other books, neither penned by Esther, had been hidden in the same spot. Page after page was filled with drawings of faces, dates, and writings in a language no one was able to even identify. Despite their intrigue, they had decided to leave the tomes in their hiding place until Klaus would be able to shed some light on the mystery.

Another four days passed while Bonnie worked out the execution and timing of the recondite spell and the precise moment when she must infuse the binding magic into the overall flow of the incantation.

"Hope," the witch said now, "you have to be absolutely focused. The second your father's heart issues its first beat will be the second Caroline's stops. Those two things are going to happen at once, and as soon as they do, you must initiate your spell. Caroline is going to be close to the surface, and you should be able to pull her back without exerting yourself. Don't pay any attention to me or your father's body or anything at all until Caroline's heart starts beating again. Can you do that?"

"I can do anything if it brings back my Dad. And Caroline," she tacked on with a short delay, casting an apologetic glance at her headmistress.

Caroline hoped that her smile masked her incipient nervousness. The last thing they needed was an anxious witch-in-training. "You'll be cleaning classrooms for a month if you don't get this right, young lady."

The girl's silly giggle brought another moment of ironclad certainty that they had all made the right choice Powerful as though she was, Hope was no more than a girl; Klaus' confidence in her ability to figure life out on her own had been laudable, but he had also been quite mistaken: Hope needed her father. And the fact that she, Caroline, stood on the threshold to death called for brutal honesty with herself: Part of her, the part that shivered with a whisper of fear at her impending demise, needed Hope's father, too.

Bonnie raised her hands. Candles flared and flickered, followed by the gusts of wind that seemed to always accompany magic. Hope came to Caroline's side, another, if smaller, grimoire in her hands and her face twisted in concentration. It wasn't the first time Caroline recognized Klaus in the girl's features; anger or utter absorption brought out the father in the daughter's face, and it sent the same sting through Caroline that she had felt when Hope had set foot in the Salvatore Boarding School all those years ago. Trusting the youngest Mikaelson with her life came without qualms or wariness, for she had seen enough of Hope's heart to know the girl as well as she knew her own daughters.

She turned her head in time to watch Bonnie cut Elena's hand with a graceful curved dagger. Blood trickled into a ceramic goblet, and following a series of wordless incantations, the witch gestured for Rebekah to approach. The Original handed Bonnie a silver flask the contents of which were emptied into a second goblet. She repeated the procedure with Rebekah's blood; when the three goblets stood lined up rim to rim, Bonnie took a handful of a powdery black substance from a plate and sprinkled it into each cup. Hissing and spluttering, every goblet sent clouds of different-colored steam into the air. As soon as the fumes evaporated, Bonnie reached under the table to produce a huge cylindrical object concealed by a thick black cloth. She carried it to the second wooden pyre where she pulled the cover from what turned out to be a glass jar. And that jar was filled to the brim with the particles they had first happened across two weeks ago in the forest above their heads.

Klaus' physical essence.

The witch poured the dancing sapphire contents of the jar onto the altar and returned to the table where she closed her eyes and fell into a monotone chant. More smoke rose from the goblets, but this time it snaked high up into the air where it blended into one large and strangely beautiful cloud of color that began to waft towards the particles. All sound seemed to absorb itself as everyone followed the slow, mesmeric descent of waves of fog until they enveloped the stack of logs. They swallowed every last one of the shimmering blue molecules. For a breathless instant, it appeared as though the world had come to a standstill, but then the cloud began to spiral fast... fast... faster. Bonnie, her eyes closed and hands spread wide, raised and lowered the pitch of her incantation in a steady pattern; the colorful mist followed the sound of her voice like a snake charmed by the melancholic tune of a flute. Tiny blasts of lightning started to flash all around the altar, and from the corner of her eye, Caroline saw Damon pull Elena and Ric a few steps further into the cave.

There had been a beginning, but there was no end. The world was reduced to smoke and mantras and the never-ending oscillations of magic-infused air.

Just as Caroline began to ask herself whether some portion of the spell wasn't working, Bonnie tore her eyes open and threw her arms up. The cloud hovered for a moment as if in some kind of supernatural doubt before it decided to dissolve. The contour of a shape distilled from the mist, hazy at first. Caroline's heartbeat accelerated with every new feature that gained definition. When the last remnants of fog disappeared, her heart issued its final beat, and her mind thought its final thought.

 _Holy hell, he is as beautiful as ever._

She lifted the corners of her mouth.

And everything went black.

* * *

"Elijah?"

The older Original whirled around at the sound of his brother's voice. They eyed each other for a lengthy, quiet minute before Klaus bridged the yard that separated them and pulled his sibling into a hug. A flood of peace made him lower his lids and relish this moment of absolute serenity. He had no sense of the Earthly time that had passed since his conversation with the Bennett witch; all he knew was that he had wandered about the Mystic Falls area for what struck him as a very long time without encountering familiar faces. Mikael had not reappeared - he supposed there was some consolation in that - but neither had anyone else of note, and thus he could hardly believe his luck in stumbling over Elijah of all people. Furthermore, the leaden sky had brightened to a spotless azure that almost unsettled him after the dull haze of the past days, weeks, months.

"How are you here, brother? I reckoned you had moved on to find peace. Why haven't you?"

Elijah hugged him once more before he stepped back. "I have. I came here to find you. I promised you we'd face this together, no matter what it turns out to be. Hayley is on the lookout for you as well; she has scoured half of Louisiana already. This place's version of Louisiana, that is."

"You are together?" Klaus exhaled with a short burst of relief. "I had hoped as much. But how can you two cross over to the threshold?"

"This is not the threshold, Niklaus. This is the netherworld. Why would you think otherwise?"

In a few brief sentences, Klaus outlined his encounter with Bonnie Bennett and her plans to bring him back to a life where his foremost priority would lay in the protection of their family and loved ones from Mikael's schemes. "Caroline volunteered to die for me," he added when he was finished. Something glowing and luscious unfurled underneath the apprehension that gripped him at the thought. "I told the Bennett witch it was out of the question, but knowing my daughter's lovely headmistress, I would wager that I have been utterly ignored."

Elijah's lips twitched. "And the fact that you are here tells us they have initiated the ritual. It also tells us that we won't have much time. Listen, brother, I need to say some things. I wanted to say them before we died, but... well, I couldn't. First of all, know that I am proud of you. I am proud of the man I always knew you could be and that you have finally become after all these centuries. No, let me say what needs saying before you answer," he muttered when Klaus cleared his throat. "You _are_ worthy of the love I have and will give you until the end of time. You were never an easy man to love, Niklaus, but love is not easy. It is compromise, steadfastness, sacrifice, and hard work." Elijah smiled. "It is also beauty, laughter, and happiness. Running from our father for a thousand years allowed for but pockets of the lighter side of love, and once you are brought back, I want you to live that side to the fullest."

Klaus made the unsettling and reassuring discovery that there were indeed tears in the afterlife. He rubbed his eyes to prevent them from falling and lifted his head to meet his brother's gentle gaze. "I must protect Hope and the others, Elijah. If these thousand years have taught us anything, it is that safety is an illusion. Mikael is scheming his return, for one. It is imperative that I..."

"I know all that," his brother cut in, "and I did not say that you are to sit around and wait for calamity to strike. You will fight as you have always fought, but I wish for you to take every moment of peace, every instant of truce and armistice and respite, to live the happiness you never allowed yourself to find." The beam that split his face could only be called impish. "I am certain that the beautiful Miss Forbes will keep you on your toes in more ways than we can as yet imagine."

Klaus gave a low chuckle. "You do not know the half of it, brother."

"What I do know, though, is this: Your ultimate redemption may have come in the guise of Hope, but it was Caroline who made it possible. Had you not encountered her, and had she not inflicted first cracks to the iron coat of armor around your heart, you would not have found it in you to accept that Niklaus, the man, still lived inside Klaus, the Original Hybrid. Do you recall what you told me that one liquor-fueled night after you returned from Mystic Falls following Katerina's demise?"

Memories of that fateful day in the woods surged before his inner eye. Caroline in his arms between two bouts of lovemaking, nestled against his chest, eyes closed, nostrils flaring with his scent. "I am somewhat foggy on the details of my ramblings that night, but I do recall mentioning a rather extraordinary event."

"You said to me that for a few hours, you felt like the weight of the centuries had been lifted from your shoulders. That is what I mean, brother. A woman who not only challenges you but gives you the strength to carry on by relieving your heart and mind - not to mention a woman who offers to die for you - is a woman for whom you should pay any price. Fight for her love every hour of every day. Never take her for granted. Give her all the happiness you were always so desperate to give, and let her make you happy in return."

His throat constricted with the wealth of emotions Elijah's brief speech had elicited. "That is all well and fine, but there is another problem."

"Well?"

"You." When his older sibling frowned, Klaus heaved a sigh. "Caroline and Hope are my redemption, in that I agree with you, and I shall strive to prove myself worthy of them. But I cannot do it without you, Elijah." He grabbed his brother's shoulder. "Come with me. Let me bring you back, and be by my side as you have always been even when I did nothing to deserve your loyalty." He bit his lip. "I have never felt more alone than during the years of your memory loss. I was adrift and afraid because you were the yardstick of my decisions throughout my entire life. I may have ignored your advice on too many occasions to count, but in my heart, I knew what was right and what was wrong because I read it in your eyes. How can I continue on without that yardstick? Without the one I trust?"

The ensuing silence stretched on for many minutes. Klaus felt a tingle in his arms and legs as he waited, yet he ignored it even when it amplified into a sensation akin to pain. At long last, Elijah turned to look at him. "They are pulling you up. Let go, Niklaus. You must let me go, or they can't bring you back."

"Don't leave me." His chest began to heave with the effort to control the tingle that had swelled into hundreds of rapid knife stabs. His hands were on fire, his arms burned, and everything hurt. "Elijah," he gasped, "please."

"My peace is here, Niklaus. Yours is up there with your daughter... and the woman you love." Elijah smiled again and placed a hand on Klaus' cheek. "Tell Hope that her mother will love her forever. Tell her - and yourself - that we shall all be together again one day. We are waiting for you." He paused to remove Klaus' hand from his shoulder. "You will never be alone, brother. I am watching over you as I have always done. Go now."

New tears welled up in Klaus' eyes as he took in the one sibling he cherished above them all... and whom he had been too blind to truly see for so many centuries. "I love you, Elijah. Always and forever."

"Always and forever."

The pain rose to unbearable heights. Klaus balled his hands into fists and inhaled as deeply as he could.

Then he closed his eyes and let his brother go.

* * *

"Dad! Dad! Will you _please_ wake up?"

The words came from somewhere far away, a dream perhaps, and it brought a smile to his face. That daughter of his sounded as imperious as befitted a true Mikaelson. He recalled the first screams of the newborn baby all those years ago; they had been almost too determined for so tiny a creature, and he had known even then that this girl would live to become a leader just as he was.

"Oh, come on, Mini-Klaus, enough with the yelling already. You've tried that for the past hours, it's getting annoying. Can't you find another pastime until Satan chooses to bestow upon us the boundless honor of his presence?"

And how well he remembered _that_ tone.

"Damon, leave her alone," a familiar female voice chided softly. "You'd be just as impatient if it was someone you loved."

"Excuse me, Lena, but did anyone see me sitting by your coffin calling your name every other minute?"

"The human edition of you didn't shed any of the vampire charm we all knew and loved, I gather," Klaus muttered in the hope that it would silence Salvatore the Elder and bring back his daughter. For an ephemeral instant, he heard nothing. Then Hope's voice rose into the silence, much closer than before and very, very real.

"Dad!" Klaus felt one hand on his shoulder and another patting his cheek. "Open your eyes!"

He blinked twice. With an effort bordering on agony, he tore his lids wide open - and looked straight into his daughter's face. "Hope," he muttered, and because he could not think of anything meaningful to say, he repeated, "Hope." The girl pulled him up, burying her face on his shoulder and hugging him with all the despair he knew she had so bravely kept at bay ever since he had announced his decision to die. He returned her hug and shook his head. "Sweetheart, I'm here now. All is well. Nothing will ever happen to you again."

And right then, his tough-as-nails and never-stumped-for-an-answer daughter broke down in his arms. He had never seen her cry like this. It broke his heart in the most beautiful of ways to see that Caroline and everyone else had been right: Hope needed him. Her relief at his return seemed almost palpable. Tears streaked down her cheeks in broad, fast rivulets while she clung to him as if her life depended on it. Klaus held her as close as he could, intuiting that words were not what she needed, and so they sat together until he felt her sobs abate and her grip loosen by the slightest degree. Only then did he cast a first glance at his surroundings - and what he saw astonished him.

Rebekah, Bonnie Bennett, Damon and Elena Salvatore, and Alaric Saltzman stood and sat scattered about in a casual formation, each lending expression to their emotions in a different manner. Rebekah's eyes were filled with tears that flooded a face nearly split in two by a wide smile. _'Sister'_ , Klaus mouthed silently and returned her beam. _'We shall speak later.'_ When Rebekah nodded, he let his gaze wander to the Salvatores. Damon's brow was arched, yet he detected no hostility in the now-human. Elena's expression conveyed wariness and a certain wonder at the sight of him cradling his daughter like any loving father would. In stark contrast, Alaric Saltzman glared at him with undisguised loathing. Arms crossed, he held himself apart from the others in a wordless message of I-didn't-agree-to-any-of-this; for once in his life, Klaus did not blame the man. The Bennett witch stood the closest, her eyes unreadable.

Klaus scanned every last corner of the rotunda he now recognized as the anteroom of the old tomb underneath Fell's Church before his gaze fell upon the empty wooden stack across from him.

"Where is Caroline?" he demanded when a sudden cold frisson chased down his spine. His zeroed in on the witch. "What happened? Did she..." He could not speak the word. The thought alone sufficed to short-circuit his every last ounce of good sense. He felt the veins stir under his eyes as he stared at Bonnie over his daughter's shoulder. "If you failed to return her to life, witch, I give you my word that you will not find a moment's peace for the remainder of your natural life. Tell me what happened."

He saw Alaric stiffen, yet to his surprise, the witch smiled, and it was a genuine smile. Before she could answer his harsh questions, Hope rose and wiped her cheeks. "She's okay, Dad. Caroline's okay."

Bonnie nodded. "You can thank your daughter for that. Even when she stumbled over a little bump in the road, she never once lost control of the spell." She came to join them and patted Hope's arm. "This young woman may someday become the most remarkable of us all."

A quick rush of pride gripped him, but his mind promptly raced back to the concern at hand. "What bump in the road?"

The gravity in Hope's voice did little to allay him. "Someone tried to bind her to the threshold when she died. She wasn't down there long enough and I managed to pull her back before they succeeded, but it was a scare all right."

"Who was it?" Klaus asked although he felt he already knew the answer.

"Caroline said things were a bit blurry and everything happened super-fast. She wouldn't swear by it, but it looked like Esther."

"Surprise, surprise," Damon interjected and, with a pointed look at Klaus, tacked on, "I think we'd all appreciate it if you eventually found a way to dispose of Mama and Papa Original for good. Your track record is a bit sketchy in that realm."

"It is good to see you, too, mate." Klaus regretted for a second that throwing the older Salvatore into a wall would kill him these days and returned his attention to Hope and Bonnie. "So where is she?"

Alaric's snide voice came from the edge of the shadows. "She left the second Hope brought her back. Wonder why?"

Not often in his life had he found it so strenuous to rein in his glaring disappointment, even when his inner voice pointed out that he should not be surprised. After all, had she not declared the chase to be the fun part of it all? Well, if he was to woo her properly as he fully intended to do, he needed to let her dictate the rhythm, however hard he found it to summon patience in this particular case. With a sigh, he was about to get to his feet when Bonnie raised a hand.

"Not so fast, Klaus. Remember that I said there was a condition if I agreed to bring you back?"

His arm around Hope and still clandestinely scanning the grotto for any signs of Caroline, he gave a clipped nod. "I certainly do."

"Before you leave, you need to know what it is. Hope and Caroline already accepted on your behalf, but I wanted to look you in the eye when I told you." He squeezed his daughter's shoulder and rose to face the witch who gestured at their surroundings. "I have linked part of your essence to this place. To the tomb, to be more precise. The second you do anything, anything at all, that compromises the safety and happiness of my friends, family, or any given innocent soul - in English, anything that displeases me - I will trigger the spell that'll lock you in here for good. No one but me can undo this magic, Klaus. I've closed every loophole. If you offend me in any way, you'll spend the rest of your days in this tomb, for let's be clear on one thing: I will _never_ let you out again. Got it?"

He sensed vestiges of the old wrath that surged inside him whenever his hand was being forced; for a moment there, he wanted to succumb to what had always been the easier path. Rage, rampage, torture, kill, until what remained of those who defied him was reduced to a miserable heap of fear. Then Hope grabbed his hand.

"Dad, please. Bonnie brought you back in spite of what I've been told is, ahm, not exactly a pleasant backstory that you two have, so no more negotiations and fighting and drama. I'm sure our future will see enough of that, but for now, just accept and let it go. For me. For our family."

He gazed down at his daughter for the minute it took him to make up his mind. "As previously stressed, witch, I will always defend my family. That is why I have returned in the first place."

"And that's acceptable to me," Bonnie nodded.

"Is there anything else?" he demanded. "Any other conditions?"

Bonnie pursed her lips as her eyes wandered to Alaric and back to Klaus. "To make sure you have incentive enough to play by the rules, I've bound Caroline into the same spell. If you go down, she goes with you."

A nanosecond saw him too stunned to react. He felt Hope's calming hand in his, but unlike earlier, it failed to take effect. "Tell me that my death impaired my hearing. Do tell me that, witch."

"Caroline agreed," Damon said and came forward. "It was actually her idea. Here's the scoop, oh Evil One. You may have met your terms of probation these last sixteen or so years, but it doesn't change the fact that for a thousand years before, you've been all seven biblical plagues combined in one global catastrophe. We don't trust you. The one thing we all know, though, is that you'd never harm a hair on Caroline's head, and that includes condemning her to an eternity in this AirBnB from Hell. Let's just call her our trump card, and I mean that in a strictly non-political way."

Klaus scrutinized the group that had fought him with such passion back in the day. Even then he had had to admire their undying commitment to one another, and annoyed as though he was, he was forced to hand it to them: Nothing had changed. They would walk through fire if it meant saving one of their own. He suppressed a smile as he concluded his silent inspection. Nothing new under the sun indeed. They were bluffing. He saw no reason to doubt Bonnie's claim about the spell that bound _him_ to the tomb, but never in a million years would they subject Caroline to the same fate. With the prim decorum of mockery, he bowed.

"As you wish. I accept your condition, witch. Are we done, then?"

"Yes." She nodded. "For the time being. Your daughter, your sister, and Caroline all vouched for you, Klaus. Remember that whenever you feel like laying the world in ashes."

"I appreciate the sound advice," he countered. "If there are no other matters to discuss, I will take my leave now and spend some time with my daughter." He pressed his lips into a thin line. "Thank you. All of you."

"Ahm, Dad?" Hope said as he turned to leave. "I think you have something more pressing to do right now than father-daughter bonding." She flashed a mischievous grin. "And I have a date tonight."

It touched him deeply to see himself reflected in that little snicker, the playful youth he had been before his life had turned crimson. He sensed that there was no date in her books, but it intrigued him to understand what on Earth would make her send him away when they had only just returned to each other. His brow rose.

"We will have a long-overdue conversation about the pitfalls of dating, sweetheart. But first, do tell me what it is you believe I should be doing instead."

Hope, who had grimaced at Rebekah at his mention of _the talk_ , stemmed her hands into her hips. "Oh, come on, Dad, don't play dumb."

He exhaled in a long, slow breath. "She left for a reason."

"And what if that reason is that she wants you to go and find her?"

His eyes traveled from his daughter to Elena and then on to Bonnie. The women watched him almost expectantly which sent a series of pinches through his stomach. Caroline... lovely, headstrong Caroline. He ached to see her more than he cared to admit. His only priority at this time should be his daughter, and still he found the thought of spending time with the woman who had not only brought him back but given her own life for him in the process so appealing that it cost him dearly to shake his head.

"She will return when she is ready. In the meantime..."

"Go to her, Klaus." It was Bonnie who had interrupted him. "Hope and I will be busy these next few days since we want to work on her nimbleness and timing before the new semester starts." She hesitated. "The fact that Caroline left doesn't mean she wants to be alone."

"I'll be fine, Dad," Hope chimed in. "I promise. We have all the time in the world now. I won't go anywhere, and even if I did, you'd always find me, right?"

He tilted his head. "Indeed I would, sweetheart, but..." No. There were no buts. Not this time. He owed it to Caroline as much as to himself to put her before everything else right now. Turning to Bonnie, he asked, "Where did she go?"

"She didn't tell us. All she said was that she wanted to go to a place she's never been to see something that wasn't there. We kind of hoped you'd know what she meant."

A shimmer of excitement spread from his chest into the tips of his fingers when he lowered his lids and considered. It took him little more than a few seconds to open his eyes anew.

"I believe I do."

* * *

Baroque had never counted among his favorite styles. The excessive dimensions, the overstated use of stucco, marble, and bold, thick colors insulted his aesthetic sense as thoroughly as did the sheer number of artworks thrown together on the crowded walls of most baroque buildings. He considered it borderline blasphemous to compromise the unique effect of a piece in such a way. He had nonetheless experimented with Baroque in his own art; whilst he deemed some of the results acceptable, he had abandoned the style almost immediately. For all that, he was not above a wry appreciation of the irony that saw one of his works from the period become the only one on permanent public exhibition - in one of the great baroque buildings of the world, no less.

As Klaus stood gazing up at the colossal green-and-white facade with its sprinkles of gold, his thoughts drifted back to the years when he had inhabited a set of chambers on the second floor of this very building. It had been an epoch of intrigue, filled with the thrills of mental rather than physical power play. To this day, he resented the revolution that had put a radical and permanent end to an era he and his siblings had relished for its singular mélange of glory and savagery. Well, at least some of the period's symbols had survived the storms of time and history.

One such monument was the Winter Palace, now home to a significant portion of the Hermitage.

 _A place she's never been._

And in one of its annexes hung the landscape he had painted during his Baroque period and that was known to the world as a piece by Peter Paul Rubens.

 _Something that wasn't there._

He felt his pulse accelerate while he followed the stream of tourists up the bombastic Jordan Staircase. Four lifetimes ago, he had climbed these very stairs to meet a woman, too, a resplendent young Grand Duchess widely considered the most beautiful of her generation. He had gifted her a diamond-studded bracelet as a farewell that night, and although she had gone on to marry some soft-brained nobleman, she had worn it until the day she died. It had moved him to find a mounted messenger at his doorstep on the morning after her passing who had handed him a velvet pouch. It had contained the bracelet, and a note.

 _Give this to the woman in whose thoughts you wish to be every day of her life as you have been in mine, Nikolaj._

The bracelet had gone on to travel across two hundred years and countless countries to find its new owner.

On the second floor landing, the throngs of visitors began to disperse into rooms and corridors; for the first time since the Winter Palace had become a haven of the world's finest art, Klaus had no eyes for the magnificent sculptures and paintings he passed on his way through the Small Hermitage and over to the New Hermitage. His heart crashed against his chest in a new dimension of nervousness that exceeded even his days as a human lad in pursuit of Tatia's favors. At the threshold to the Rubens Room, he paused for a moment to place his hand on the broad gilded door frame and grant himself a moment to take in the chamber. Surprisingly few visitors strolled about the exhibition space, admiring the opulence so characteristic of the Flemish painter's oeuvre, consulting phones and catalogues and commenting on the works in hushed, awed voices. In the center of the room, a broad bench whose magenta upholstery clashed appallingly with the dark tangerine walls offered rest for sore feet and invited the enthusiast to study his favorite paintings in quiet contemplation.

And there, on the far end of the bench, a lone figure sat very straight and seemed all but lost in _Landscape with Stone Carriers._

Nothing had prepared him for the tidal wave of emotions that inundated him at the sight of her.

Tight black jeans and high-shafted leather boots hugged her endless legs. She had donned a black jacket over a shimmering, dove-grey blouse, and her hair fell over her shoulder in those loose waves he had always fancied on her. Face fierce with captivation, she seemed oblivious to the world as she perused the painting on the wall before her.

"So what do we see in it, Madame Headmistress?"

He had to hand it to her - other than the subtlest and most endearing of changes in her breathing, she showed no outward reaction. Her eyes remained fixed on the somber landscape.

"How did you find me so fast?"

Klaus laughed quietly. "Your little riddle was not exactly the mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Caroline. I liked it, though. Very much."

"That night at your house, during your family's ball..." She trailed off. He did not push her, but he kept his gaze trained on her beautiful face as he waited for her to carry on. He could not have looked away even if he wanted to. After a moment, he saw her nostrils flare with a deep if stealthy breath. "There were so many obvious places I dreamt of seeing. New York, London, Paris, Hawaii - pretty much every teenager's typical bucket list. And then we stood there, surrounded by all that beautiful art, and you asked me if I'd been to the Hermitage. It was as if I suddenly understood there wasn't just a whole world but a whole _other_ world out there waiting for me. You gave me a glimpse beyond Mystic Falls the night you came to my house and fed me your blood. But that time, in your art room, you opened my eyes as wide as they would go. I haven't closed them since."

She shifted slightly in her seat, and when she turned to look at him, he had to fight the godfather of battles to keep himself from burying her in his arms. So many were the places and wonders of the world he wished to share with her, yet he had vouched to give her the proper wooing she more than deserved. It was of no consequence that he yearned to forgo the centuries of chasing her around and right away embark on the adventure that could be their life together.

"Why did you always understand me so much quicker and better than anyone else, Klaus?" The stiffness in her voice was replaced by a dash of fascination. "You knew nothing of me and still it took you only moments to see who I was. No, who I _could_ be. Why is that?"

Part of him wanted to say what most women who asked this kind of question wanted to hear, but neither was Caroline most women nor would he play games with her she did not want him to play. "I wish I could ascribe it to some arcane bond between us, to magic and destiny and thunderbolts. The actual explanation is, I fear, far more mundane." He shook his head. "When you have lived as long as I have, you learn to recognize certain traits in others fairly quickly. I saw the hunger in your eyes upon first meeting you, in spite of having been otherwise engaged that evening at your school." Ignoring her grimace, he added, "I saw more of it when I came to your house. Too many of us give up on their dreams and wishes when the reality of immortal life sets in, but something about you that night told me that you would not be one to surrender her love of life that easily. It was that hunger I wanted to preserve. So I healed you."

"And there I thought you did it because you fancied me." A tiny smile accompanied her gibe and made his own lips twitch.

"That was all the other times," he quipped before his eyes found the painting. "My turn. This museum holds the largest collection of paintings in the world. How did you guess which one was mine?"

"A lot of running around, a little intuition. No, really. I vamped through all the rooms - limiting myself to the Western European Collection because I've never seen anything Asian in your art - and scanned everything that struck me as dark, sad, or depressing."

"Thank you, love."

Caroline grinned. "Force of habit. Anyway, I took a closer look at the works that particularly caught my eye for some reason, and then I found this." She rose and walked over to the wall, stopping mere inches from the gold-framed painting he had crafted in 1619 during a brief sojourn in Flanders. It depicted a tree-covered, large boulder before a background of sunlit, rolling hills to the east and the shimmering surface of a moon-drenched lake surrounded by tall, dark trees to the west. Two men with a horse and cart ground away in the almost impossible effort to wrestle blocks of stones from the rock and load them onto the carriage.

"I see a hint of daylight there, but all in all, it's a dark scene. The trees are gnarled and deformed, the lake and the moon are more unsettling than beautiful, and those two men are fighting like crazy against the forces of nature to make a living. They fail and fail, but they keep trying." A sheepish expression crossed her features. "Don't ask me why, but even though you look nothing like them, I see you and Elijah in their faces. But most importantly, there's this." She pointed at a cluster of low, shadowy trees on top of the sandstone rock, and Klaus' throat tightened. "It's really well-hidden, but this right here doesn't seem like any other tree. It's a hood. With a face like a skull underneath it. If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say this is Mikael, painted as a demon who keeps the two of you from living your lives."

His voice was less steady than he would have liked. "Observant as ever. Well, other than adding a few new faces to the list of those my beloved stepfather wants to see torn to shreds, it would appear that little has changed between the seventeen hundreds and now. Caroline, before anything else, we must speak about the measures I will take against Mikael, Esther, and whoever it is they have signed on to help them on this side of the curtain. Some of it will not please your friend Bonnie, and I refuse to compromise where the protection of my family is concerned. And yours, for that matter - my killing you for doing what you did notwithstanding."

With a last glance at his painting, she nodded. "We have to talk about all that. But not today."

"Why not?"

"Because I need a day, just one day, before the usual supernatural drama kicks back into gear," Caroline said. Tension shimmered through her tone, reminiscent of their afternoon in the woods when she had handed him the reins of their complex and complicated relationship. She had taken the first step that day, but for the few beautiful hours their tryst had lasted, she had given herself into his hands so fully that it had almost frightened his emotionally challenged heart. The same need he had felt in her back then vibrated in her voice now. She was stronger than anyone he knew, but even the most brave-hearted of vampires longed to put down her weapons and feel protected and carefree for a little while every now and again.

"And yet you wanted me to find you here." He remained where he was, registering every motion in her eyes as he asked, "Am I not the epitome of supernatural drama?"

Although Caroline did not smile, her face relaxed. "You know I never saw you that way, Klaus. Look, I said I needed a day. I didn't say anything about wanting to be alone. A long time ago, you offered to show me what the world has to offer. Can we take this one day to pretend that there are no worries and duties and we're free to go anywhere we please and do anything we want?"

He needed no more than three steps to close the distance between them. Albeit he did not touch her, he sensed that their sudden proximity electrified them both with the power of fingertips brushing over heated skin. The subtle change in the atmosphere did not escape him; where there had been a kind of probing restraint in their demeanors before, a new sense of possibility saturated the air now. _A day_ , he thought. They had one day to be who they were... to just _be._

It was perfect. _She_ was perfect.

"Any particular wishes?" he asked while he allowed himself for the first time in more years than he could count to be filled with nothing but undiluted joy at the twenty-four hours that lay ahead.

Caroline looked him in the eye for a moment. Then she leaned forward, skimming her cheek over his, and whispered, "I want to see this city with your eyes - the way you saw it in the days of the tsars."

He could not have said why her hushed words sliced through him like the sharpest of knives. Instead of an answer he did not have, he stepped back, took her hand, and bowed over it until his lips grazed her skin.

And there, half-hidden beneath the sleeve of her jacket, the fiery sheen of diamonds scintillated on her wrist.

* * *

St. Petersburg transcended a flair that made Caroline's pulse flutter for a whole battery of reasons. Old Europe blended with Imperial Russia in unparalleled harmony and lent the city an atmosphere she found hard to describe. One moment she believed herself in Paris, two street corners later she was walking straight into an ancient Russian fairy tale, and underneath it all pulsated a ubiquitous romantic effervescence. The latter, she assumed, was to be ascribed to her company more than to the unique composition of bricks and mortar and waterways.

Klaus had taken her plea to heart and guided her to countless hidden spots a regular tourist and perhaps even the most seasoned local would never have deemed remarkable. His colorful tales of the years he had spent at the various tsars' courts drew her in as profoundly as the stories he told her of the conspiracies brewing in backyards and smoke-beclouded, raucous taverns, of the countless intrigues and affairs not only within the orbit of the highest social echelons but also in the heart of the rising bourgeoisie, and of his travels across the endless, primeval Russian lands. Such were the images he brought to life in her mind that she managed to shut off modern times for a little while and see nothing but the palaces in all their ancient splendor, the unimaginable wealth and abject poverty that had coexisted in Russia side by side - and did to this day. Never once did Klaus venture into the supernatural aspects of his sojourn in the country; his descriptions of people and occurrences centered around human history and the modest impact he and his family had exerted on the course of it. It was like a breath of fresh air, and certainly unexpected.

They were just walking along the banks of the Moyka River, a minute waterway in the very center of the city, when Klaus halted to point at a magnificent eighteenth-century building on the yonder side of the stream. "The Yusupov Palace. The Yusupovs were at one time the wealthiest family in imperial Russia and of as noble a descent as any given Romanov. The palace survived the chaos of the war and revolution intact, interior decoration included." He smiled. "This is where Rasputin was killed."

"I thought the name rang a bell," Caroline mused while she studied the bright apricot mansion with its snow white columns and window frames. "Were you involved?"

"No. I rather liked the man."

"Why?"

He considered for a moment. "Underneath the drunken serial lothario of popular culture, he was a fellow of remarkable foresight. He would have lived to become one of the world's great wise men if he hadn't constantly let his demons gain the upper hand. If he hadn't made the wrong enemies."

"Was he an actual messiah? I read somewhere that he made a couple of rather accurate prophecies," she asked to distract herself from Klaus' hand that rested on the railing not half an inch from hers. He seemed to read her mind, for his eyes found their hands and remained on them when he spoke.

"I have lived for a thousand years, and not once during that time have I found traces of divinity. I do not believe in miracles or those who claim to perform them, nor do I believe in gods, singular or plural. That said, I am convinced that Rasputin - and a few others before and after him - possessed an iota of something that reaches beyond the common bounds of humanity."

She looked up at him in astonishment. "What do you mean? Some kind of, I don't know, supernatural humans?"

"Not quite. I do not think that they have been touched by the supernatural as we have come to know it. It is more of a third independent faction - humans, supernatural beings, and _them_. I encountered perhaps ten of their kind during the past thousand years. Some, like Rasputin, are known historic figures, others have never found their way into the chronicles of the world, but they all shared the same traits: a degree of providence bordering on the prophetic, a tendency towards excess in every aspect of their lives, and a charisma that eclipsed everyone around them to a point where men, women, and children willingly walked into doom for them with happy smiles on their faces. The superficial research I conducted on the matter led me to believe that something sets these men and women apart from the rest of humanity." He shrugged. "I never found the time to study this phenomenon in great detail, although I did chronicle my encounters with it over the centuries. I might continue my research if I can eventually remember where I stashed the two books that contain my records."

A silence Caroline found easy and comfortable spread between them for the moment it took her to digest his theory. Well, at least this explained the strange books they had found in the tunnel in New Orleans, but they, too, would have to wait. She arched a brow at herself when she noticed her attention wandering back to their almost-touching hands on the railing and shook her head. "Counts as supernatural drama, too. Tell me more about it tomorrow, okay?"

"Very well," he said immediately. "There is something else I would like to show you, but it is a little off the beaten path. We can take a car, or we can run - it is up to you."

She scrutinized him as he stood next to her, face relaxed, eyes calm and all the same shining with life whenever they came to rest on her. He had looked at her with veneration many times before, most notably during their spectacular afternoon in each other's arms, but he had never been as much at peace with the world as he was right then and there, and she loved to see this side of him. Before her stood the real man she had known him to be underneath the shell of the Original Hybrid, and this, here, today, was also the man who had made her throw her entire being to the winds and give in to that stupid, inconvenient, aching lust he had roused in her practically since the moment she had first set eyes on him. What she hadn't foreseen when she had embarked on her day of recklessness in the forest was the way he had made her feel: beautiful, audacious, untamed... and desperately desired for who she was, even back then. She had sensed how Klaus hadn't allowed a moment's thought of anything beyond the two of them, and however much she had tried, she had never been able to replicate the sensual and emotional pyrotechnics of that fateful day. She had loved Stefan intensely, yet even though he had reciprocated her love unequivocally in the end, the element of completeness that had emanated from Klaus' every touch, his every look, and the tremors that had shaken his body when he had first slid into her - that element she had never found in anyone else. It had scared her, and it still did. Then again, Caroline Forbes-Salvatore had never been one to yield to her fears, and she wouldn't start today.

"Let's run. How far is it?" she asked.

"About thirty miles." His face split into a grin. "Do you wish for me to carry you, young'un?"

Caroline's snort was, as she knew, rather unbecoming the headmistress of the Salvatore Boarding School. "I'll show you young'un, Methuselah. Lead the way."

Klaus was still grinning, but a little something in that grin made her heart stumble when he said, "I did not ask because I believe you incapable of using your own two feet."

Without another word, he flashed off, and after a second of stupefaction, Caroline followed. It wasn't often that she ran long distances at vampire speed, and it pleased her to find that her velocity increased rather than diminished with every new mile, making the small gap between her and Klaus shrink little by little. She could never match his true speed, and albeit she knew he was adapting his pace to hers, it still felt satisfying to close the distance. While she did, it occurred to her that this was another example of how he had always seen her as his equal - the little lapse in Elena's house notwithstanding. The condescension she had so often witnessed in his demeanor towards others had never extended to her, nor had he frowned upon her choices. It was something that could not be said of too many of her friends.

So lost in thought was she that she promptly collided with Klaus, who had imperceptibly slowed down, and sent them both flying. In a motion so fast Caroline thought she must have dreamt it, he turned them both over in midair, and a nanosecond later, his back crashed hard into the sandy ground while he held her securely against his chest so as to cushion her fall when she landed on top of him. She barely felt the impact. Her blood pumped through her veins with the speed of sound as she stared down into his face. Every inch of her was welded to his rock-hard body, and the sudden memories shooting through her head became so vivid that she wondered whether he could read them on her features the way he had always been able to read her.

 _He is still inside her, hot and hard as iron, when he pulls her on top of him. There's a moment of self-consciousness as she straightens up, a moment that sees her wanting to cover herself, and even within the headless desire she can see in his eyes, he notices._

 _'Don't,' he says in a husky, scratchy whisper, 'not ever.'_

 _She feels a shiver trickle down her spine. It's all over his face, but the insecure girl she sometimes still is needs to hear him say it. 'Why not?'_

 _His hands are unbearably soft in their slow, silken motions on her hips and up her sides. All of a sudden, he gives a quick, hard thrust underneath her, and her moan cuts through the silent forest like a thunderbolt. 'Because there is not one inch of you that needs hiding.' She groans again when he sits up and wraps her legs around his hips, and her heart all but breaks at the tenderness in the hands that cup her cheeks. 'And because, my love, there is not one inch of you that I wouldn't want over and over again.'_

 _Her last thought before she forgets her own name is how much she wants to tell him the same. And that she never can._

"Caroline." The single word pulled her back with the speed of light. Same hoarse whisper, same position, same wild, dangerous heartbeat in two chests. "Do not let your thoughts travel down this path if you wish for me to chase you for a few more centuries."

Of course he could still read her. _Duh_. Oh damn, she needed to move now, get up and be reasonable. But how was she supposed to listen to reason? Everything about Klaus felt _good_ , even better than it had back in the woods, and to boot, they were still fully dressed this time. She sensed the tiniest of twitches against her hip; with arrested breath, she realized that he was hardening... and it aroused her like hell. "What if I've changed my mind about that?" she murmured, doing her best not to give in to the urge to close her eyes and let her fingers travel south. "What if I content myself with a couple of decades?"

Klaus' hands were pure velvet when he stroked her back more like a gentle breeze than the raging storms she knew slumbered within him. "Even then. I am prepared to wait, but you must let me." He lifted his head a fraction, and before she knew it, his lips found her throat. The open-mouthed, lingering kiss set her skin aglow and sent a fusillade of electric shocks straight into the pit of her stomach. "Say the word, and I shall leave until you decide to come to me. Say the word, and I shall be by your side until the end of all days. What I will not do is settle for some halfhearted back-and-forth," he breathed against her skin. "The decision is yours, Caroline, but you will have to make it."

Without thinking, she sighed and bedded her head on his chest, nuzzling against him as she did. The motion came so naturally that she only noticed it when his arms came around her and his hand found its way into her hair.

"I know," she said after granting herself a few moments of sheer, unadulterated bliss. "We said one day, right? Give me until tomorrow. No later than that, I promise."

"Agreed." She felt his cheek resting against the top of her head. It made her squeeze her eyes shut - only to tear them wide open at his next words. "You have brought me back in every possible way, do you realize that? When we first met in Mystic Falls, it was you who hauled out that human part of my soul I had believed lost for good. Well, human-adjacent. Then you dragged my mind out of Silas' stranglehold, and this time, you brought me back from death itself to reunite me with the daughter I was forced to give up. Nothing you say or do and no choice you make will ever diminish my gratitude." He breathed a kiss onto her hair and lingered. "Or my feelings for you."

Caroline lifted herself onto her elbows. Something had changed, she mused while she took in every detail of the face that had haunted her dreams for so many years. Klaus Mikaelson had never been comfortable lending verbal expression to his emotions; it had flustered him on the best of days, yet now he was returning her probing gaze with the calm confidence of a man who not only knew what he wanted but had found the courage to embrace his heart in spite of himself.

Her throat felt uncomfortably tight when she said, "We've really come a long way, haven't we?"

"And still this is no more than the prologue to our story."

Caroline felt herself going soft at the undertone of wonder that contrasted so perfectly with the conviction radiating from him. "Yes. It is." Before she could say another word, he ran his knuckles across her cheek and hoisted them both to their feet. They stood mere inches apart, their eyes locked in a silent embrace until Caroline could no longer bear her own impulse to seal the deal right away. This was not the moment. Not yet. "So what was it you wanted to show me here?"

He pointed at something over her shoulder, and when she finally managed to tear her eyes from his beautiful face and turn around, she discovered that they were standing on the shores of a lake. Other than a few scattered houses and the characteristic onion-domed towers of churches in the distance, she discerned mainly woods. Only when she scanned the serene, lovely landscape more closely did she register that the sun had begun to set. Orange sparkles danced on the glassy waters and turned the few fleecy clouds into puffs of gold and silver. Her pulse quickened when Klaus stepped closer again, all the way until her back was nestled against his chest. He didn't touch her, didn't wrap his arms around her, and still she felt as if she was completely cocooned in his embrace. "This is Lake Ladoga. Russia shares it with Finland; the border runs through the middle of the lake." His chest molded itself into her back as he inhaled. "If you followed the eastern shore long enough, you would arrive at what today is a modest nature reserve of perhaps a hundred and thirty square miles. In the most inaccessible part of said reserve you would find a pond, small if surprisingly rich in fish, on whose north end rot the remains of a wooden cabin. It is almost a house, too large and out of place up there in the midst of absolutely nothing. That cabin, love, contained one of the most well-guarded secrets in the history of this planet."

Intrigued, she followed the eastern shoreline as far as her eyes could see. "What was it? The Amber Room?" She giggled. "If it's still there and we go get it, I could turn the school into a global franchise."

His low laugh vibrated against her back. "You would not need to fence the Amber Room for that. I am certain that some anonymous billionaire contributor or other can be persuaded to make a substantial donation to your noble cause."

Caroline smiled at the memory and shook her head. "Some other time, perhaps. So what was the big secret?"

"The man and woman inhabiting the cabin never left and never encountered another living soul save for three loyal friends who dealt with the outside world on their behalf. Their names were never spoken, their faces never seen. But before our mysterious couple had settled in the cabin, they were known to the world as Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna... Emperor and Empress Consort of all the Russias."

"What?" She whirled around. Her breath caught when her breasts grazed his chest, but for the moment, she was too distracted to let it make her jump his bones. "You're seriously telling me that the tsar and his wife survived their execution? How was that even possible? And what happened to their kids? How were they never discovered? How long did they live? Has no one...?"

Klaus lifted a hand. "Slow down, love." He snickered at her scowl, and to her great annoyance, it dissolved her annoyance at once. "Before you ask, we had no direct hand in their survival. Many remained devoted to the tsar and his family, and whilst I am unclear on the details of what came to pass in Yekaterinburg on the day of their execution, the fact remains that they did survive. All of them. In order to erase their traces, the family split up. The daughters were scattered all over the world and lived out their lives under false names and in exile; for all I know, not even their spouses ever learnt of their true identities. Their offspring, too, remain ignorant of their ancestry. The Empress refused to be separated from her only son, however, so the three of them moved from village to village for a year or two before they decided that the danger of recognition in any corner of the civilized world was too acute. That was when the idea of the cabin was born, and a brief while later, they moved into the swiftly erected house. Alexei, the tsarevich, a frail, sickly youth, died a few months into their residence. Nicky and Alix, heartbroken as though they were, remained together and never set foot outside their home again. When she fell gravely ill, they decided to take their lives together so as not to leave the other behind." He let his eyes wander into the distance. "They died thirty-eight years after the cabin was built."

For the duration of ten heartbeats, Caroline gazed up into his face. The corners of her mouth lifted a fraction as she placed a hand on his arm. "You're a bit of a closet romantic, aren't you?" When he didn't answer, she said, "But hadn't their remains been found at some point? Didn't I read something about DNA tests that confirmed their identities?"

"Whenever a member of the family died, their remains were discreetly brought to the burial site where they were eventually 'discovered'. The tested DNA was thus indeed authentic. Their descendants are being protected from public discovery to this day."

"But you know who they are."

"Of course I do."

"Of course." She rolled her eyes. "Do you know where the Amber Room is?"

At that he grinned again, and a hint of mischief glinted in his eyes. "I have a fairly good idea."

Caroline gave a sigh. "Surprise, surprise." She hesitated briefly before she asked, "Why did you tell me this story?"

"I never shared it with anyone, not even Elijah." Tension constricted his muscles, but he relaxed at once when she gave his arm a gentle squeeze. "I had come to know about this whole drama by sheer accident and followed it from a distance over the years. Somehow, it tugged at me. It is about family and sacrifice and loyalty..."

"... and love."

The stormy blue of his eyes seemed darker all of a sudden. "And love. I was blind for so long, Caroline. I envied the Romanovs the bond of family, the love they shared, and I never wished to see that the same was right within my grasp for a thousand years. Rebekah... even Kol... and Elijah." A tremor shook his voice. "My brother chose death at my side over eternal life. I have a daughter who loves me, a sister who never turned her back on me for any length of time." The sudden tenderness in his voice warmed her. "A friend who left no stone unturned to bring me back from the dead. And I do not understand how I am worthy of any of you."

In a gentle motion, he removed her hand from his arm and walked down to the edge of the shimmering water that had turned purple with the last gleams of the setting sun. Stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets, he lifted his head to the skies.

"And more than anything, I don't know how _not_ to ruin what I have."

Caroline couldn't stop herself from melting like butter in a hot pan. His rare moments of vulnerability had always slithered right under her skin, and today was no different. She stayed where she was even though every nerve in her body demanded that she rush down there and pull him into her arms. "I think you do. It's going to be a nasty piece of work, and we all know you're going to screw up every now and again, but one thing is for sure." Her tone softened at the sight of his rigid shoulders. "Your brother knew you better than all of us combined. Do you believe he would have done what he did if he didn't think you worthy of his sacrifice? Do you believe your daughter, that smart, gifted, strong-minded kid, would give all her love to someone undeserving of her affections, blood relations or not? Don't you think Rebekah would have left you centuries ago if her love for her brother hadn't been stronger than her disapproval of his methods?"

Klaus stood frozen in time, his eyes fixed on a point in the distance she reckoned he wasn't even seeing. A bird cried, and somewhere in the depths of the nearby forest, she heard the dark call of an owl. "What about you?" he suddenly said. "How can you think me deserving of what you have done for me, Caroline?"

"I told you once that anybody capable of love is capable of being saved. I never stopped believing in that. You gave up everything for Hope, and a man who sacrifices his very life for his child deserves to see her grow up. He deserves a chance." She bit her lip. "Just don't let your past dictate your choices anymore. Choose like Hope's father. Like the man Elijah knew you are, deep down. Like the man with whom I never for one second regretted spending an afternoon in the woods."

He turned to look at her. "That man is not for the world to meet."

"I didn't say he should be. I said he's the one who should be making the calls. Do you think I advertise the woman who cries at soppy romantic comedies, squeals like a piglet at the sight of a cute puppy, and still can't get over the way you made love to her? Heavens, no! How could I run a school if the greater public knew..."

"Pray repeat that," Klaus interrupted.

"The woman who cries at..."

"The last part," he cut in anew. "Say it again."

Caroline felt a dash of warmth rise on her cheeks. "You didn't think I was likely to forget, did you? In case the two hundred thousand women over the centuries failed to mention it - you're not without, ahm, _talent_ in that area."

"I shall try not to take offense at the suggestion that I have slept with an average 1.8 women on every day of my life." The humor coloring his tone vanished as he walked up to her. "You said you were terrified of me when you were younger, that you could never relax or be yourself. Call me delusional, but all I saw that day was a beautiful, wild girl who completely let go of everything for a few hours. Who was with me and let me be with her. I saw no trace of fear or anxiety. Was I wrong?"

"No. That day was different. You were different, Klaus. That's what I mean. Show the face of the Original Hybrid to the world if you have to, but don't let the guy take over again." She shook her head. "I'm not your psychiatrist. I don't actually think you need one, for that matter. Not anymore. Just be who you know in your heart you want to be. For your daughter, your family, and yourself."

 _And for me._

For a long while, neither of them spoke. Dusk was setting in fast now, painting water and trees in a hundred hues of anthracite and black. The sparse lights of homes and churches dotted the shoreline like an uneven string of golden pearls that gave the scenery a shimmer of warmth. Another owl hooted, and somewhere close behind, the rustling noises of small animals, mice perhaps, filled the undergrowth. Caroline and Klaus stood wrapped in the beginning darkness, no more than inches apart. She felt a tingling inside her chest as his eyes seemed to confine every detail of her face to memory; the tingles exploded into a storm of voltage when, without a warning, his lips found hers.

He touched her so softly that all she could do was close her eyes and surrender to the tidal wave of emotions. He kissed the corners of her mouth, lingering for a moment as he did. There was the quietest of sighs when he found her lips again, but even as she felt her own lips part in invitation, he continued with his chaste and heartrendingly tender onslaught.

"Will you have dinner with me tonight?" he whispered against her lips. For some reason, Caroline had expected him to ask her to spend the night with him - or seduce her right here - so his question caught her off guard. Not to mention that she was beyond distracted by the anarchy of lust, need, and thundering heartbeats, more so when his lips traveled all over her face and the tips of his fingers caressed her neck with barely-there touches. "One more minute of this and I will lose what is left of my sanity, love."

She leaned her forehead against his and heard him sigh. "So will I. I think we could use a drink. Or maybe six."

* * *

He had taken her to an elegant place called Palkin, one of the oldest restaurants of St. Petersburg, where everything from the classical bar to wall paintings to stucco to the florid chandeliers had oozed history. During seven courses of caviar, Kamchatka crab, Pirojki, and other sinful Russian dishes, he had brought the marvels of Siberia to life, and once more, Caroline felt like he was opening the door to yet another corner of the world she would never otherwise have added to her bucket list. He spoke of the strange freedom of absolute loneliness that he had experienced in the immeasurable lands where the nearest outpost of civilization could take up to a week to reach. He made her laugh with his stories of stubborn reindeer, shirts frozen so stiff that he had had to chip them off his chest, and an old babushka who had chased him off her property with an actual broomstick for giving her granddaughter the eye. There was quiet reverence in his voice when he described Lake Baikal, the Amur River, and all those other wonders of nature he had seen over the years. It fascinated Caroline to discover how the wide range of his interests was in no way inferior to his powers of observation that captured even the smallest and seemingly irrelevant details, and over a sumptuous dessert, she caught herself wondering if she would ever find the time for the lengthy travels she had always envisioned to be part of her future.

Following their lavish dinner, they had had drinks at a bar that served vodka in its every last variety, accompanied by melancholic balalaika music played by a toothless, bearded man who looked as old as Klaus was. And now they were strolling along the Griboyedov Canal embankment, each thinking their own thoughts as they watched the lights of the city reflected in the dark waters of the canal. Klaus had been very quiet since they had left the bar; he had barely said a word or even glanced at her, and she found that she didn't like it. Somewhere nearby, a church bell chimed two. Caroline drew in lungful of the cool night air, stopped mid-stride, and grabbed his arm.

"Klaus, there's something I'd like to ask you, but I'm not sure how to say it."

He leaned against the wrought-iron parapet separating the walkway from the canal and peeked at her with a certain caution in his gaze. "Now that is a first indeed. What in the world would present you of all people with such difficulties?"

Her pulse picked up speed as she exhaled. "I was wondering... well... if you had any plans for the night. What's left of it, I mean," she added and felt silly at her poor attempt to lighten the mood.

For the briefest of instants, she saw the same flash of desire light up in his eyes that had set the woods around Mystic Falls on fire. It was gone too fast for her to truly grasp and replaced with a hint of doubt that made him fold his arms across his chest. He scrutinized her long enough to make her a tad uncomfortable, but a few moments later, his stance relaxed and his face softened. There was still an edge to his voice when he finally spoke.

"Believe me when I say that there is nothing I want more, Caroline. Nothing. At all." He smiled and shook his head once. "Here is my quandary, though. You have a decision to make tomorrow - and I will do nothing to move the dials for you. I want you to decide with a sober mind and heart and not intoxicated from hours of lovemaking."

She felt the old pain of rejection surge within her. Asking the question had been hard enough, and if she was honest with herself, she would never have expected him to turn her down. It vexed her to find the insecure teenager still living and breathing somewhere in the dark corners of the cave to which she had banished her and everything else she wanted to forget about herself. With a curt nod, she muttered, "Fine. I'll see you in the morning."

Just as she prepared to flash off, he caught her. Before she could form a coherent thought, he cradled her face in his hands. "I wanted you from the moment I first set eyes on you, and I wanted you even more after that time in the woods. Not a day has since gone by without those memories and the longing for more of you. If I had my way now, we wouldn't make it as far as the next hotel room." She felt a tremor in his hands. "But I do not want you for a week or a month or a decade. You are the woman at whose side I wish to spend my eternity, and as pointed out earlier, there will be no compromises or will-she-won't-she. You will choose in the cold, hard light of the morning with your eyes wide open because that is the only decision I will accept."

Thoughts whirled around in her mind with the speed of tiny bullets. She could see in his eyes, feel in his touch, that he was telling the truth, and whilst his refusal still stung like the pinch of a needle, the neurotic girl slowly retreated into her grotto. "Okay, I think I understand that. But for the record - I didn't want to spend the night with you to make the decision easier on myself. Let's not forget that we've done this before, so it's not like it would be a game-changer."

"Yes," he said quietly, "it would be."

"Why?"

His smile lit up his entire face with a hint of playfulness - and shy wonder. "Because unlike today, my beautiful Caroline, only one of us was in love that time."

* * *

 _Only one of us was in love that time._

The words played in her head on repeat all night. Caroline had been unable to sleep for more than ten consecutive minutes even though her suite at the Belmond was plush and comfortable. Klaus had taken the adjacent room, and in spite of the thick wall that separated them, she could feel his presence as acutely as if he was sitting right next to her. She had taken a long bath, gone through her beauty routine, turned on the TV, turned it back off, paced a trench into the hardwood floors, made herself coffee, texted her girls... nothing had managed to distract her. She wished with all her heart for someone to talk to, maybe Bonnie or Elena, but the more she yearned to grab her phone, the clearer she saw that Klaus had a point. This was her decision, and hers alone, and not even the best of friends could take a peek inside her heart and tell her which way to go.

 _Only one of us was in love that time._

In love. With Klaus Mikaelson.

This was the time, _the_ time, to be as fiercely candid with herself as she had ever been. So the honest answer was... yes. She was in love with him, and to hell with everything, she liked the sound of it. She liked _him_. She liked his wit, his humor, his burning enthusiasm for the world and everything in it. He made her laugh, he made her toes curl and her knees go weak. There was comfort in his strength and the knowledge that he would use every ounce of that strength to fight to his last breath for those he loved.

Then why the bloody everlasting hell didn't she just get herself over there to bang down his door and tell him a thousand times yes?

With a huff of frustration, she stepped up to the window. A gust of chilly air ghosted into the room as she pulled it open. She was breathing it in and shaking her head like a wet puppy to try and clear her head when she registered a noise. A glance to her right revealed that Klaus' window stood ajar, allowing the sounds from inside to carry.

"Well, sweetheart, you know better than most that magic requires years and years of practice. Even for a Mikaelson. Take it from the expert - impatience does nothing to enhance the process."

Caroline clapped a hand over her mouth to keep a giggle from escaping. Expert indeed. She was about to close the window to give him privacy when she heard Hope's voice on the other end of the line, faint but audible.

"How's it going over there, Dad? Did you get down on one knee already?"

Klaus gave a chuckle. "Again with the impatience. Let us not take the second step before the first."

"But you love her, right?"

There was a short silence. "Yes. I do."

Caroline gripped the windowsill.

"And she loves you." When he didn't speak, Hope said, "Come on, she literally died for you. She brought you back, and I've seen the way she looked at you before she left. You love her, she loves you - how hard can it be?"

A sigh came from the other room. "It is about more than love sometimes, sweetheart. There's the past, there are one's fears... so many things come into play that make rainbows and unicorns take a second-row seat."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" the girl asked. "It's not like I have a lot of experience in that area..."

"I should hope so," Klaus interjected, and Caroline could almost see his daughter roll her eyes at this most parental of comments.

"Anyway," Hope continued, pointedly ignoring him, "Shouldn't the rainbows and unicorns, like, override everything else? Shouldn't they be stronger than any fears or whatever happened in the past?"

"In a best-case scenario, yes, but reality is rarely that."

A tinge of smugness entered the girl's voice. "You know, I have this crazy Dad who once said to me that reality is what you choose it to be."

Klaus laughed, a warm, lovely sound that made Caroline smile. "This kind of repartee at age fifteen makes me fear for the world when you reach thirty," he said, and there was no mistaking the pride in his tone.

 _Like father, like daughter._

"Look, I have to go, Dad, but this isn't the end of this conversation."

"I never thought it would be," he snickered. "I will be back soon. Is Rebekah still there?"

"Best watchdog ever. Take your time, okay, Dad? I'm fine, I promise. I love you."

"I love you, too, sweetheart."

For the longest time after the phone call had ended, Caroline stood at the open window and stared out into the night. Dawn wasn't far away now, an hour perhaps, but she hardly noticed the subtle changes in color that marked the transition from night to morning. She just stood there and _felt._ She felt the warmth in his heart, the love for his daughter, the love for _her_. The desire to live the life he had been seeking for so long, the need to do what was right for them both. The elation, the fear, the hope, the determination. The courage.

 _Shouldn't they be stronger than any fears or whatever happened in the past?_

The breeze ruffled the pale grey silk of her nightgown like a soft hand gliding up her thigh.

 _You are the woman at whose side I wish to spend my eternity._

 _You will choose in the cold, hard light of the morning with your eyes wide open._

She turned on her heel.

Not one second later, she knocked on Klaus' door. Her heart boomed in her throat when he opened - and it came to a full arrest when she took a good look at him. He was wearing his black denims but little else. Chiseled and immaculate, his chest was just as she had so often seen it in her dreams, and she had to make a conscious effort to tear her gaze from it. He did not make it easy on her; his eyes drank her in with the greed of a man who had crossed a desert of sand and dust for weeks without a drop of water.

"Torture will not work," he muttered without conviction. "You could stand before me naked, and..."

"Yes," she said simply.

There was a heartbeat of hesitation before he stiffened. "Yes, what?"

Caroline bit her lip. Her pulse was racing. "I want in. I want rainbows and goddamned unicorns and thirty-eight years in a cabin together and game-changing sex and screaming matches and everything else. And I don't want to make a pro-and-con list on yellow legal paper. This is it. All or nothing. Now, not in a hundred years."

Half a forever seemed to trickle by while they both stood petrified in that particular trance that often accompanies monumental decisions. Caroline's last functioning brain cell wisecracked that she was still waiting in the corridor, barefoot and in a sheer nightgown that would present quite the spectacle to anyone who happened to leave their room just now, yet none of that existed in the reality she had chosen. Nothing existed other than the almost painful disbelief on Klaus' face and the realization that she would not live to see the sun rise over the rooftops if she couldn't touch him now. With quivering fingers, she pulled her gown over her head and let it float to the floor.

Quicker than her conscious mind could process, she found herself being slammed into the opposite side of the hallway. Hot thrills of anticipation flashed through her when she lifted her eyes to meet his.

"How can I take my time to love you as you should be loved when you do this to me?" he breathed against her lips. "When all I can think of is to bury myself in you?"

"Love me later," she managed to say, her entire body weak with need. "Fuck me now."

She had no idea how he had managed to rid himself of his pants, but the last syllable had not left her lips when he was as fully nude as she. He cupped her butt, and for a rapturous moment, he closed his eyes and reduced their world to the incomparable sensation of his hands kneading and caressing until her breathing came in clipped gasps. Then, without a warning, he lifted her up and pushed her into the wall. Her head began to spin when she felt the tip of his cock against her entrance, brushing slowly over her clit in motions as tender as they were provocative. His breathing stuttered with her every moan, with every new caress of his cock and every time she opened her legs a little wider.

"I won't last long. Not this time," he murmured hoarsely.

Caroline took his face in her hands. "Neither will I." And with that, she crushed her mouth to his and twisted her hips.

Their moans were swallowed by the heated clash of their tongues as he slid into her. For a second, he remained deep inside her, giving them both a moment of absolute intimacy, a last respite while his mouth danced on her lips and his tongue played its masterful game. He released her with a last, unexpectedly soft kiss to lean back and look her in the eyes. Then he gave a rough thrust that went straight to the very core of her being.

Her head hit the wall hard. "Yes," she groaned, "yes, dammit!"

That was all it took. Klaus slammed into her, again and again and again, violent and unrelenting and glorious. The delicious way she felt every inch of him inside her made her whimper in pain whenever he withdrew from her. Her body was ablaze with the fires his ridiculous mastery stoked in her, she was wet like she had never been in her life, and the indescribable ecstasy on his face brought her to the brink of delirium. He took her with the despair of years of longing and the incandescent joy of knowing that she was his at last, and never, _never_ , did she want to be fucked any other way again. She was almost incoherent from the obscenely arousing sound of flesh against damp flesh. Sweat pearled down between her breasts, and only when she blindly reached out to hold on to him for dear life did she realize that Klaus had buried his face in the curve of her shoulder, his hands to both sides of her head. He moaned against her skin each time he thrust into her. Lime trickled onto the thick carpet from where his fingers dug into the wall.

"Come... with me," he grated. "Now. Gods, now."

His thumb was suddenly on her clit, massaging her hard and fast. Caroline smashed her hands against the wall when the first orgasm assaulted her out of nowhere. Klaus continued to slam into her, and his fingers never ceased in their hypnotic motions even as he cried out against her shoulder. She had no choice but give herself over to another climax that made her wrap her legs around him and bury her hands in his hair while they rode out their magnificence of an orgasm until all that remained of them was an entangled, sweat-covered pair of spent bodies that fit each other to perfection.

Panting, Caroline closed her eyes and let her head sink onto his. When she lifted her lids again, the corridor had disappeared. She felt crisp, clean sheets underneath her heated body and the warmth of Klaus' heaving chest against her cheek. With a sigh of bone-deep contentment, she snuggled into him and smiled when she felt his arms squeeze her hard.

"Did we just have sex in a public hotel corridor?" she murmured and pressed a kiss to his chest.

"Indeed. Scandalously so, if I may add."

"I love scandalous sex." Caroline stretched luxuriously. "Can we do that again?"

Klaus chuckled while he stroked her back with tender caresses that set her body and soul afloat. "As many times and in as many _al fresco_ locations as your imagination can concoct." The pause that followed made her look up to find him gazing down at her with a mélange of delight and mischief. "As long as we are clear on one thing."

"I'm all ears."

"For every instance of quick-and-dirty, you owe me a full night of _this_."

He pulled her on top of him in one swift motion. His lips did not dance this time, they made love to hers like they never had before. It was a rich, slow kiss, the kind she had always believed existed mainly in the Harlequin novels she had clandestinely devoured as a girl. Klaus laid himself bare before her in every possible way. His emotions shone through the silken touches of his lips and the sweetness of his tongue, and to her horror, she felt tears rising behind her eyes at the sheer beauty of this infinitely romantic kiss. Romance was her last thought before she shed all remnants of doubt, reservation, and defensive walls and submerged herself in his kiss with everything she was. The neurotic girl, the vampire who had fought too many wars at too young an age, the daughter and wife who had lost her parents and husband too soon. And the woman who had raised two daughters, built a school, and never made room for her own heart's needs.

Until now.

"Show me," she whispered when he swept his lips over her temples. "Show me how I should be loved."

Instead of an answer, he moved to kiss her eyes with infinite care, lingering and caressing her face until she felt like her heart was about to burst. In the most gradual of motions, he trailed his lips along her jawline and down to her neck. His hands slid into her hair, and for one second, he paused with his eyes closed as if attempting to collect himself. Then he lowered his mouth to her neck. Caroline's hands fisted in the sheets at the flashes of hot and cold that raced over her entire body when his tongue began to caress her throat in a mesmerizing, erotic pattern. The small sounds of pleasure that escaped him with every new inch of heated skin he discovered and made his own stirred her hunger more than anything else, yet despite the new pulses of lust that coursed through her, the need for this _other_ thing he was giving her now was greater.

No one had ever touched her like this. No one.

Klaus dedicated himself to rediscovering her as if his very life depended on it. His kisses, the swishes of his tongue on her delicate skin... the skillful and featherlight way he skimmed the tips of his fingers down her throat and along her collarbone... it felt like magic. No, she corrected herself in the split second her mind emerged from clouds of bliss, it _was_ magic, the kind of magic no witch on this Earth had the power to conjure. Long, luscious kisses glowed on her body where he made his way to her shoulder and down to the little space between her breasts. Her breathing hitched. He raised his eyes only to lock them with hers until her limbs turned to rubber.

"I need to touch you, and I need you to hold nothing back from me, my love."

A rush of sweet agony pumped through her; even without the spoken words, there would have been no mistaking his helpless longing. It surprised her how well it complemented the confidence and finesse behind his every touch; he was all but irresistible in his fusion of contrasts. But none of that mattered when his lips grazed the gentle swell of her breast in a silken, open-mouthed kiss. She gave a quiet moan and let herself sink back into the pillows. As her lids fluttered closed, she bit her lip.

"Do you know why I could never be myself with you when I was younger?" she murmured, sucking in a sharp breath when his tongue followed the trail of his lips. She felt him smile against her skin.

"Because I was the source of all evil in the world."

"That, too." She opened her eyes with some effort and saw him watching her. He grazed her other breast with the tips of his fingers while never ceasing in his unbearably tender kisses. Goose bumps rose on her arms; there was something akin to agony in the way her nipples hardened, and it took her every last bit of concentration to find her language. "I wanted you, and somewhere deep down, I knew the day would come when I'd act on it. The thought excited me as much as it made me nervous. I believed that you..."

Klaus let his tongue brush along the underside of her breast. "Yes...?"

"I was so young. I had never left Mystic Falls. My experience was limited to boys not much older than myself." She thought it political to omit Damon from the story. Sighing at another kiss, she said, "I was afraid you'd no longer see me the way you did before. That I'd lose my appeal if you saw me for the small-town girl I really was. The most powerful being on the planet wanted me, and I felt it made me special. Ugh, I hated myself for thinking that, but I did."

This time, it was Klaus who lifted himself onto his elbows. He continued to run his thumbs along the sides of her breasts, infusing her blood with a steady level of heat that didn't lessen even as he studied her face for the longest time. "Caroline," he said at last, "my life has seen too many women to count. I had my share of the innocent, those too experienced for their own good, and the entire bandwidth in between. I have loved. Not often, but I have." He swallowed and lowered his eyes in what she had come to recognize as abashment. "You struck a different chord in me than any woman before you. There was fun in the chase, as you so aptly put it, but the more I saw of who you truly were, the more the chase lost its appeal. I first fell for your light, as you well know. Then I discovered a wealth of courage, strength, loyalty, and that quick wit of yours, and it made me want you more than I recall ever wanting a woman. And the moment I wanted you most was the moment you walked away from me after spending all those hours being no one but yourself in my arms. I have not stopped wanting you since... and I believe you know that I never will."

A golden glow spread from her heart into her veins and flowed through her entire body. He was telling the truth. She could hear it in his voice, see it in his eyes, but most importantly, she felt it in every fiber of her being. Elijah had once explained to Elena that, as a human, Klaus had been full of love and wanted to be loved in return; this need had not only been heightened after his transition into a vampire, he himself had taken it to extremes. When he loved, he did so with no holds barred, no eye on the emergency exit. He was hers for the taking, body, heart, and soul.

And take him she would.

The swiftness of her move caught him unawares, and the flash of surprise in his eyes when he found himself on his back made her giggle for all of one second before she framed his face with her hands and crushed her mouth to his. His lips were so oh-so-strong in their softness when she took possession of them like she never had before. With a low moan, he trapped her against his chest. The dance of his tongue that had once managed to seduce her within seconds brought new waves of electricity that lit up her body, and not only hers. She felt his muscles twitch, and for a moment, she basked in the titillating sensation of holding all the power in the world hostage underneath her body. But Klaus wouldn't have been Klaus if he didn't challenge her for said power. Faster than lightning, he reversed their positions. Caroline groaned when his mouth closed over her nipple and that devilish tongue of his continued its conquest in slow flicks and swishes. His hands were everywhere at once, kneading her other breast, roaming over her rib cage... traveling south. She felt his fingers glide over her stomach to her hip and on to her thigh. Slowly, very slowly - _too fucking slowly_ \- he made his way down to her knee, and only then did his hand take possession of her inner thigh. She bit down hard on her lip when she sensed how he parted her legs a little further with each new inch of skin he set aflame on his journey back north. The attack of his lips and tongue on her rock-hard nipple took on a new intensity just as he traced a finger along the little indentation at the apex of her thigh... and then the world disappeared around her.

The very second he gave her nipple a playful bite with his human teeth, his finger slipped into her wet depths.

Caroline's back arched from the mattress. It was all she could do to keep herself from crying out loud at the hot rush of lust that shot through her body - and from holding Klaus' hand in place when his finger left her.

"Again," she managed to gasp.

Two fingers slid into her now, and once more, she wanted to scream in frustration when he pulled back. He let his fingers circle her clit once, twice, three times, before he thrust into her anew and began to fall into a slow rhythm that brought her to the edge of reason. Moan after moan left her, but she didn't care who heard her. Her life was centered around two long, nimble fingers... and a mouth that was suddenly between her legs.

She couldn't bite down her scream this time.

Klaus groaned against her clit as his lips joined his fingers. He pumped in and out of her, still delicately at first, but with every new lick, every swish of his tongue along her length and over her clit, his thrusts gained speed and depth. He gave another throaty moan when Caroline grabbed his head to trap him against her. She wanted more of this. She _needed_ more of this. Her entire body was liquid heat, and her despair reached frightful levels the second his fingers left her to pull her legs onto his shoulders. But it was nothing compared to the full-blown frenzy when she felt his tongue slide into her.

She came hard and fast. Her thighs quivered in time with the shock waves of ecstasy that whipped her body, and somewhere on the fringes of her cognizance, she heard Klaus' feral grunts swell into almost-screams at her endless climax. He licked her like a man possessed, and he didn't seem to harbor any intention of slowing down. Neither did she. Another orgasm was looming under the relentless thrill that was his mouth, and all she could do was bury him between her legs and force him to make her come again. Her climax built and built like a tempest. Caroline heard herself call his name when his fingers dug into her thighs and his tongue slithered in and out of her, grazing her clit every time in ferocious and delicate swishes that took complete control over her writhing body.

She climaxed again. And at the height of her orgasm, Klaus' magnificent, iron-hard cock slid into her so slowly that the sheer pleasure of it tore her in two.

"I... sweet Jesus... don't... stop!"

She wasn't sure who had choked out the words. She didn't give a damn. This was Heaven, Hell, Paradise, everything. Klaus made love to her while she was still coming, and in spite of his infinite gentleness, he did it in such a way that he prolonged her orgasm until she believed with all her heart that it would kill her. She encaged him between her legs and let her hips take over, rolling against his in sensuous circles, and with every slow thrust, she pulled him deeper into her soaked depths. Her walls quivered around him.

"What are you doing?" he rasped. "Don't make me... not yet... I need more. Please."

Caroline traced the tip of her tongue along his throat. "There's no hurry today. There'll never be again. You've got me, Klaus. Forever. Get used to it."

He froze mid-movement. His eyes, clouded with lust, bore into hers as he bent down to hover half an inch from her lips. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me." She smiled at another moan when her walls tightened around his cock anew. "And I meant what I said." She kissed him with all the mindless abandon only he had ever been able to bring to the surface and felt him shiver in her arms. "Don't move," she whispered. The muscles in her lower belly contracted and relaxed in the same slow cadence he had made love to her earlier, squeezing and releasing his cock inside her. Klaus' forehead sank against hers as he let her take him. His breathing accelerated in harmony with the rhythm she dictated; when she opened her eyes, his face was contorted with the fever of pleasure and feelings too new to fully understand. They stared at each other, lost, found, complete, and it was the raw emotion in his gaze that made her walls tighten on their own accord.

Neither of them moved when they climaxed together. The sweetness of their orgasm spread into their every nerve, pulling soft, long moans from them that saturated the room and made them wrap themselves around each other until they became one body. One soul.

* * *

Daylight had come and gone unnoticed.

Klaus stood at the window of his suite's living room and stared into the new night with unseeing eyes. Caroline had fallen asleep a while ago after a full day of lovemaking, talking, laughing, and being blissfully silent in each other's arms, but he was too shaken to find rest. A second had seen him consider calling the front desk for a pack of cigarettes, but he had dismissed the thought at once. He harbored no wish to speak to anyone. No, that was not quite true. He would have happily given the entirety of his possessions for five minutes of conversation with the one person whose advice he needed so sorely. He heaved a soundless sigh while he watched a group of chatting youths saunter towards the nearby park.

"Brother," he muttered under his breath, "I am frightened. All my life, I sought for this... this all-consuming joy. This moment that tells me I am home. And now that it is here at long last, now that I have more than I ever believed possible, I can think of nothing but the dread of losing it again. How can I not return to who I was when every instinct tells me that I will fail to preserve this miracle?"

"Because you know it isn't a miracle but something you've earned by becoming the man you are now," Caroline's low voice sounded from the bedroom door. Closing his eyes with a rush of discomfiture, he inhaled and turned to look at her. She was wearing little more than his bracelet. His breath caught at the sight of her sublime body, the slight flush on her face, and the tousled blonde hair he had always liked best when not impeccably groomed. The light that was so intrinsically Caroline's seemed different, brighter and more golden as if some arcane potion had been added to it.

"It is beyond me how each time I lay eyes on you, my love, you are more beautiful to me than before." His heart inflated at the sight of her deepening flush. "Why are you not sleeping?"

"You were gone," she said simply.

Klaus granted himself a second to fight down the instinct that demanded to carry her back to his bed and continue where they had left off a short while ago. "I will never be far."

"I know." She hesitated, then returned to the bedroom to appear an instant later with a white sheet draped around her body. Lowering herself onto the armrest of the sturdy antique couch, she cast him a cautious look. "Why would you think you'd lose me, Klaus?"

He ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the windowsill. "This is the world of the supernatural. A dozen threats await us wherever we go, but for the woman who owns the most powerful creature on the planet, those threats multiply to a thousand. One of them could someday take you away from me. I am still a man who has made more enemies over the centuries than some smaller nations have inhabitants. They did not all magically disappear with my death. And..."

"And?"

The revelation of a weakness he would have preferred to conceal from Caroline was abhorrent to every fiber in his body, but they had ventured past the point where hiding from each other represented an acceptable option. After today, he considered it a mortal sin to keep anything from her at all. "And the day might come when you change your mind."

Her face softened. A blinding smile spread on her features while she rose to join him at the window where she took his hand and linked her fingers with his. "Let's look at this from the standpoint of logic." He arched a brow, pulling a giggle from her that made his heart a little lighter. "Come on, we aren't talking arithmetic, are we? Anyway, think about it like this: Imagine that one fine day, a man crosses my path who's smart, well-read, strong as hell, cultured, has a sense of humor, a beautiful face, a mouthwatering body, and is, as a bonus, the closest thing to a sex god this planet has ever seen." She squeezed his hand. "Why would I settle for such a man when the ultimate bad guy who's waiting for me at home offers me the deluxe version of all that and so, so much more... and I have him right here by my side until the world stops turning?"

Klaus could have sworn that his system ceased operation for the blink of an eye. He pulled her against him and felt her arms sneak around his waist in an embrace as unbreakable as his own. Her head came to rest on his shoulder; it dawned on him that in spite of her infinite fortitude, even Caroline Forbes-Salvatore relished - perhaps even needed - the safety she found in his arms. His voice did not quite obey him when he said, "You have known for a long while that I love you, Caroline. Know now that I belong to you until the day I die."

Her arms trembled briefly before she wormed herself deeper into his chest. "Good. Then you're officially released from your promise and free to return to Mystic Falls at your leisure." They chuckled companionably. After a moment, she leaned back a fraction. "The threats will always be there, Klaus; I was aware of that when I decided to try and bring you back. But we both stand a better chance of protecting our daughters and ourselves if we face them together, don't you think?"

"I will see the netherworlds freeze over before I allow any of you to stand with me when I face my beloved mother and stepfather." He watched the steep creases between her eyes appear, a sure sign of trouble, but this time, he didn't let it sway him. "This is not up for discussion. I will find the witch who is involved in all this, and I will put a thorough end to Mikael's machinations. Alone."

Caroline moved out of his arms and stemmed her hands into her hips. "Okay. While you're out playing Django Unchained, I'll be stocking up the tomb with supplies because we'll be spending a hell of a lot more than thirty-eight years in there."

A rush of guilt flooded him at the thought of the deal she had made with her friend Bonnie; albeit he still did not believe for a second that the witch meant to condemn her best friend to a life sentence, it rattled his cage that Caroline had even so much as considered taking so grave a risk. His contrition weaved itself into his voice, making it sound harsher than intended. "It is not my plan to claim the rule of the free world. Whatever I do will serve the protection of my family which, incidentally, includes the woman I love."

Her eyes brightened. The beginnings of a radiant smile curved her lips, yet no more than a second ticked by before she folded her arms across her chest and, in her best headmistress timbre, shot back, "May I point out that we've stood against Mikael and Esther before? Do I have to refresh your memory as to who won that battle?" She answered her own question without pause. " _We_ did. All of us. My friends and I couldn't have done it alone, but neither could you. And we made it all happen while we were mortal enemies! Imagine the victory we'll score now that we're allies." She shook her head. "Now that we're... family. Klaus, there's no one on this Earth you can trust more than your daughter, your siblings, and the woman who has chosen to spend her life with you. I know you'll fight for us with everything you are, but you have to allow us to do the same for you. This is how friendship and family work. This is how love works. It's a two-way street."

"I can't risk you, or Hope. I have only just found you two. Mikael and Esther will stop at nothing to get their hands on either of you, and the thought alone turns my stomach."

Caroline heaved a deep breath. Something in her eyes made his heart stumble anew. "Do you seriously believe that the idea of everything your father put you through doesn't turn _my_ stomach? For over a thousand years, he hunted you like a rabid dog. He made your human life miserable. I think you paid enough of a price for your mother's infidelity, and just as you don't want me and Hope to be anywhere near Mikael, I don't want you to have to go through another second of his hatred. Is that so hard to understand?"

It was not. He understood her perfectly. He just could not quite bring himself to believe that all this was indeed happening to him. Before he could work out an answer, she was back in his arms and kissed him long and deep. Her taste lingered on his tongue when she broke the kiss and gazed up at him, her hands stroking soft patterns on his bare back. Never in his life had he found himself in less of a mood for an argument than right here in her arms. They would find an acceptable compromise. He would still not allow them to face more than the unavoidable minimum of peril, yet his lovely lady had made one very valid point: They were stronger together. Klaus cleared his throat and breathed a kiss on her forehead.

"Let us take life one supernatural drama at a time, shall we? Between my parents, our children, and your school, we should be covered for the coming five centuries." He grinned and traced a finger along the hem of her sheet. "Which brings me to another non-negotiable item."

Her brows rose. "Which is?"

His thoughts wandered back to the past hours, to her warm body pressed against his, to her demands for more, to the way his name sounded on her lips when she felt him climax deep, deep inside her. To all those wondrous and beautiful things she made him feel. "I will not spend another night without you, Caroline. I do not care what it takes or the concessions we both have to make. I will fall asleep in your arms every night, you will wake up in mine every morning. I will not..."

"Okay."

He narrowed his eyes. Unquestioning acceptance of anything he said was so unlike his strong-minded love that it immediately roused his suspicion. "Am I to expect a stake to my heart anytime soon?"

Caroline laughed, a bell-like sound that made him smile. "You used the last white oak stake on yourself, remember?" She closed her eyes for a split second. "It's going to be a piece of work to make it happen, that's for sure, but if you think I don't want these last hours repeated every single night of my life, you're even crazier than you came across the day you tried to skewer Damon with half a picket fence."

"Ah, the old glory days," he snickered. When she shook her head at him, he bent down to kiss her shoulder. "You make me so very much happier than I can ever deserve. I need a chance to give you even a fraction of that happiness in return, and I intend to take advantage of every day, every night, to work on that."

A gleam of mirth danced on her face when she let the sheet fall to the floor. "Want to get a head start?"

Klaus moved back to take her in as she stood before him, illuminated by the soft lighting and the loveliness of the glow that had opened his heart so many years ago. He smiled at the pinkish hue that spread on her cheeks under his intense, silent scrutiny. Soon he would eternalize that lambent beauty on canvas, but this last night before their return to Mystic Falls and the life they would build together was theirs, and theirs alone.

She gave him a lively, flirtatious smile. "It might still be a bit early in the day to do it in the corridor again. Too many eyes and ears."

"There is always the balcony," he suggested with a grin of his own. "Or, if your mood is for the adventurous, we can drive down to the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo. There are particularly spectacular walls in the recreated Amber Room which I am certain have yet to be... _inaugurated_."

Her laughter sent a swell of _joie de vivre_ through him; she placed her hands on his chest and leaned in to brush her lips over his. "Promise me something, Klaus."

"Whatever your heart desires," he said and meant it.

She slung her arms around him. "When our family is safe, when Mikael and Esther have been taken care of and our daughters have grown tired of their overbearing parents, you'll take me to see everything the world has to offer."

For the briefest of instants, he felt almost dizzy. Then he took her face in his hands and kissed her hard. They were both breathless when he released her to whisper, "Every last corner of it, my love. I swear it on my second chance at life."

Caroline gave a deep sigh of pleasure before she turned and resolutely marched towards the balcony doors, making him grin when she yanked them wide open and stepped outside. Stark naked. Oh, he did love this side of her that instinct told him she had never shown anyone but him. The good girl was deeply ingrained in her nature, and it gave him a vibrant, profound pleasure that she dared to live out her not-so-flawless, her eccentric and wild sides in his company. She was herself with him more than she knew; she always had been, and he loved her for it.

He joined her at the wrought-iron railing and brought her chest against his back, closing his eyes when she lifted her arms to entwine her fingers behind his neck. They stood like that, oblivious to the world, until she lowered her arms and covered his hands with hers, pulling them around her waist as tightly as she could.

"Klaus."

"Yes?"

"In case I've been too subtle these past hours - I love you." She turned around in his arms and ran her hand along his hardening cock. "And there is not one inch of you that I wouldn't want over and over again."

All he could think in this moment too perfect for words was that the extraordinary Mrs Forbes-Salvatore - soon, of that he would make certain, Mrs Mikaelson - had proved them both wrong.

He did believe in miracles.

And she had performed the greatest of them all.

* * *

Somewhere in the vastness of the netherworld, Hayley glanced at Elijah. "What's with the smile?"

He kissed her hand. "Oh, nothing. It's just that this girl has my little brother on the hook to end all hooks."

"Tell me something I didn't know," she said, slipping her hand into his. "She had him hooked from day one."

"This time around, she won't let him off it, though."

"And how would you know?"

"Because he has her, too." Elijah lifted his gaze up to the skies and chuckled. "Make it one hell of a ring, brother."

 **THE END**


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